The Day to Day Trajectory of a Tourist on Safari

The Day to Day Trajectory of a Tourist on Safari

First day seeing an animal (any animal):

Me: What is that?  It looks like a boar.  Runs to find someone who can accurately identify said boar.  Told it’s a warthog.  

Second time seeing boar-like creature:

Me: Oh look! It’s a warthog. Confidently lists several features of the warthog; it’s preferred vegetation, which animals prey upon it, etc.

First day seeing a Bushback:

Me:  oh look!!!  It’s a bushback!  This is SO exciting. Spends next 20 minutes filming bushback while exclaiming over ever single detail of their unusual markings.

Male Bushback

Second time seeing a Bushback:

Me: Looks around for other animals, sees there are none, begrudgingly films bushback for a few seconds before turning the camera to a large bird which has landed on a tree branch nearby.

Third time seeing a bushback: 

Me: doesn’t bother turning around,  Oh look! A whole family of warthogs.  Aren’t they funny?

Fourth time seeing a bushback:

Me: No reaction.

When on safari each new sighting is met with feverish anticipation and curiosity.  Then, after a few more sightings, inevitably one is on to the next thing.  For me it began with pretty much anything that moved, followed by awe at the enormity and beauty, and a desire to see whatever it was up close.  Then, over the course of a few days, I noticed that I wasn’t even bothering to film the bushbacks and their beautiful markings. In an effort to combat “the jaded tourist”, I tried hard to pay attention to and marvel at the markings of the impala, antelope and others.

Zebra

Still the thrill of seeing what are referred to as the big 5 couldn’t be shrugged off.  The big five: Rhino, Elephant, African Buffalo, Lion and Leopard are the most sought after sightings, but in the beginning, anything was exciting, even the bushbacks (which I still love for their exquisite markings).  But it’s easy to ignore yet another baboon or vervet monkey or Ibis or Spoon billed stork or the amazingly colorful Lilac Breasted Roller. In fairness, I never did tire of seeing those monkeys and birds, however I admit I did begin to view the impala and bushback, so plentiful and in such massive numbers, as the “deer” of Africa.

If you are interested in travel and specifically in traveling in Africa, I have been releasing a new video every day on my YouTube playlist: An African Adventure.

Today’s video covers a river safari we took in Zambia where we sighted countless hippos.  I was not frightened by any of the animals we saw except for those hippos.  They are enormous, fast and fierce and when you’re in a smallish boat, they can be terrifying!

 

Prepping for Africa

Prepping for Africa

Off we go on our grand adventure to Africa tomorrow!

Here is a little recap of the last 24 hours…

Yesterday: Wake up to find we have been sent a notification from the airlines that our flight has been cancelled. Wait, what?!???

My heart skips a beat, a precursor to the flood of panic that immediately follows. Time for some deep breathing. Logic kicks in. We will get another flight out, it’s going to be fine. I quickly send off emails to the travel agency and leave voice messages for them as well, just in case they don’t get the email, even though it’s 6am and they’re on Central time and won’t be open for at least four hours, you can never be too careful or thorough.

Anxiety Girl from RunSingTeach

I practiced my french – j’ai pratiqué mon français. Still feeling some trepidation and panic, but attempting to speak another language helps. Meanwhile Richard has been experiencing heart palpitations and has an appointment with the doctor to make sure he’s in tiptop shape for our trip. I remind him that it’s important that he wear his hiking boots, since they’re new, at least once before our trip, to ensure he doesn’t get blisters while we are away. He nods distractedly.

The travel agency gets back to me, we laugh about traveling and how anything that can go awry, often does, but it won’t be a problem, she’s got this and will call me back when she’s figured out our new airline and flight.

I decide this is a good time to get some stitching done to calm my frayed nerves.

Wrapped Grommet – Ariane Zurcher Designs

Several hours pass and I get the news that we are rebooked on a different airline departing out of a different airport, but we will make our connecting flight and all is well. Knowing that we are all set to go as originally planned I go out to get my Covid test as required by the airline and Africa.

I throw on an old pair of sandals and walk briskly over to the CityMD nearest us only to be told that they’re swamped and test results will take 3-5 days. Yikes! They suggest a different place that is about a half a mile away. A true New Yorker, I walk over to this new place, which is actually a folding table set up on the sidewalk on 14th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues. It feels as though I have pebbles in my sandals, which I cannot find or get rid of. Never mind, there’s no line and so I fill out the various online forms to register and they assure me test results will be delivered within 24 hours. Perfect!
“Go easy on me,” I plead to the young man, who I swear couldn’t be older than 22. He assures me that he’s known for his gentle touch and before I know it the deep nasal swab has been deftly done and is over. “That’s it?!” I exclaim. “Yup, you’re good to go,” he says.

I have a brief moment when I consider whether it would be worth purchasing another airline ticket for this young man so that we can bring him with us and have him perform the 9-10 Covid tests we will have to get throughout our trip. I voice this thought in a joking tone. He laughs and says something like, “I wish.”

He has no idea how serious I am…

The pebbles in my sandals are now really quite painful and I’m having a difficult time walking. I stop at a random pharmacy, purchase some bandaids only to realize that there are no pebbles; I’ve developed large quarter-sized blisters on the bottoms of both feet. How does that even happen?

I hobble home grateful that I can stay put and not go anywhere else.

Upon arrival back home I am confronted with more forms that need to be filled out no more than 48 hours before leaving. I can feel my anxiety rising. Oh and weren’t we supposed to start taking our malaria tablets? Oh no, that can wait until Friday.

New email comes in from the travel agency reminding me to print out our Rwanda visas. Wait, what? Rwanda visas???? I did that, didn’t I? I’m sure I did, but never received confirmation that our applications were approved. I search for and eventually find the email saying that our visa applications are “pending.” I forward all of this to the travel agency with the subject line: HELP!

I have a Zoom call with my “Ask Me Anything” Patrons, which is really more like a party, very boisterous and lots of fun. I show off my latest stitching project and we discuss stitching, techniques, different ways of doing things, piecing backgrounds, and other things, including my next two workshops coming up end of September. The Zoom party is lots of fun and distracts me momentarily from all that’s going on travel-wise.

The Zoom party ends and I see another email from the travel agency. I call them instead of emailing back. She’s taking care of the whole visa debacle and assures me it will all get sorted out. I check my credit card and see that the money has been removed for our travel visas. She tells me there’s one more form to be filled out, but she’s having her assistant do it because while I was on the Zoom call she spoke to my husband who, it turns out, is having heart palpitations due to stress and she doesn’t want him to get any more stressed out.

Richard tells me he loves his new hiking boots, wore them all day and guess what? Not a single blister. I admit that I wore sandals that I’ve never had issues with and now can barely walk.

We laugh. Because seriously, what else are you going to do? We haven’t even left yet and this trip is feeling epic!

Today: I wake to see that my Covid test has been emailed back to me and I’m negative, thankfully.

After I finish writing this post I am double checking that all our various documents are printed out multiple times. I swear we have added at least a pound to our baggage weight with all the documents. We are only allowed a small duffel bag and cannot bring more than 33 pounds including carry-on each. I will be weighing my various tech equipment & computer, finish packing and will try to remember to breath.

Breathing is important. Wish us luck!

And remember in five days we will be hiking with these guys.

Sh*t My Mother Sends Me & So Much More!

Sh*t My Mother Sends Me & So Much More!

I haven’t shared anything from my mother in awhile, so I thought today was as good a day as any for a little humor. Courtesy of my mother, who received this from my brother, I think. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out the source… but regardless, the importance of punctuation.

And now that many of us are getting or have already been vaccinated, there’s this:

A throwback to the early days of the pandemic…

And a few of my own that I found while looking for other things on the internet, which makes one wonder how we manage to get anything done at all!

Not for the faint of heart…

Remember this family? Spoiler alert: It didn’t end well.

Perhaps this will be the new normal moving forward…

And finally, I’ll end with this…

How are all of you doing?

❤️

A Snowy New York City & Aging

I awoke this morning thinking I would get an early start by going out into the snowy streets to take some video footage. But then I looked at the weather and it said with the wind chill it felt more like about 20 degrees and I thought better of it. So I practiced my French, answered a bunch of emails, and then finally layered up and went out into, as it turned out, the not so cold, cold.

I did a little shoveling of the sidewalk, took a walk, reminisced about New York City and things that I was reminded of as I walked, before heading home. Here’s that video:

As I finished posting the above video to YouTube I looked out the window and saw this…

So a little more snow, evidently is here. However, according to the weather report on my phone app it is cloudy right now and will rain this Friday. Go figure. I think it’s safe to say that the weather forecast is unpredictable and often incorrect. However this pandemic means that whatever the weather, it doesn’t make any difference because we weren’t planning on going anywhere anyway!

When last we spoke I was getting headaches almost constantly. I am happy to report that I have not had one in two days! My mother reminded me that drinking more water can help, which I have been dutifully doing, as well as a whole routine that involves daily warm compresses, eye drops and neck exercises. And did I mention drinking lots and lots of water? Lots and lots of water.

Aging takes up a lot of time and requires a great deal of energy, I’ve concluded. My mother used to say “aging isn’t for the faint of heart.” At other times she has been known to put it more succinctly: “Aging sucks.” So we can just leave it at that.

❤️

Laughter and Humor During Troubling Times

Most of us, here in the United States, are hoping the next day and a half will go by quietly and without violence. In addition, since most of us are not yet vaccinated, and the variant has hit the US, with death tolls from COVID at an all time high, I thought the perfect remedy for free floating anxiety is a little silliness and laughter. This first clip is from a morning news show that airs in Calgary and whose anchors seem to genuinely enjoy their jobs.

And then, because I had clicked on this video, Youtube helpfully suggested the following video as another they thought I might like, which of course I had to click on, because that’s what one does…

Things devolved from there as youtube recommendations (you know the list of videos they think you might like that pop up on the right of your computer screen) began to include increasingly raunchy titles such as, “Pussy Get Out of my Pants” and other such salacious click bait. So I did what anyone would do, I went down the youtube sinkhole of clicking on recommended titles, and then had to pull myself together and redirect, as one does when heading down time wasting sinkholes. Oh but I did laugh at some of these… seriously laughed until I was crying. Even so, I’m happy to report I was successful in extricating myself and am now heading into what I hope will be an extremely productive day.

But before I go, here is one more, which made me laugh… I know, I know.

Now I’m going to get some work done, I swear.