Aug. 11, 2010 The Highlands and Loch Ness

I caught the tour bus at 10:15 AM. It is actually raining today and I have made good use of Kathy's umbrella.
Our first stop was at the burial cairn of a woman from 4000 years ago. It is now located in a farmer's field. The pile of stones covers a tomb inside where the bones and belongings of a woman were found. The cairn is surrounded by eleven (not twelve) standing stones and on the winter solstice the sun rises to shine directly into the tomb.
Next, we went to the Loch Ness Center where we went through the standard tourist presentations about the history of Nessie, the Loch Ness sea monster. This, of course, was followed by the obligatory gift shop.
Our next stop was Urquart Castle. Originally founded by a pagan "Pict" group, it has been owned, expanded on, raided and destroyed by the Scots, British, and Jacobites. It was alternately inhabited by the Scots and Brits several times. Only ruins of the castle exist now - the last group having blown it up with gunpowder.
We were given two hours to eat lunch, visit the gift shop, watch a short movie and walk around the ruins. It was raining off and on and two hours was too much. By the time the boat came to pick us up, we were soaked.
We had a 1 1/2 hour boat ride along Loch Ness (no signs of Nessie) and back to Inverness.
Tomorrow - the long trip home.

Aug. 10, 2010 Orkney

I woke up at about 5AM and walked to the bus station to catch the 7:15 AM bus to the John O'Groats ferry. The bus was quite full and the ride was about 3 hours. We drove along the coast over many bridges and small isles. The scenery was beautiful, lots of water and green. We saw many castles of the rich and famous: Madonna, Princess Margaret (with her lawn of rare white Chinese deer), Andrew Carnegie, and many others. It is not surprising that these people choose the highlands to keep homes and castles. The area is beautiful and serene. We saw a lot of fat healthy sheep and fat healthy cattle. We could also see, off in the distant sea - giant wind turbines which are being used in experiments for alternative wind energy. Ironically, these are located right next to the many oil drilling platforms. It is hard not to project the horrendous possiblity of an accident in this pristene environment - especially in light of what we have gone through in the gulf this summer.
This is a startling change from Africa. The roads are smooth, the houses beautiful, the scenery green and manicured. I am also happy about the nice sea-level altitude.
Upon arriving at the John O'Groats ferry dock, I bought a sandwich and visited the gift shop while waiting for the ferry to arrive. The water near the shore and docks was clear enough to see the bottom.
We all loaded onto the ferry for about a 40 minute ride to Orkney. Again, beautiful views as we sailed past the small islands through silky waters. The weatherman had predicted hard rain for Orkney today, but it was bright and sunny with a few lingering puffy clouds.
Upon arriving in Orkney we boarded the tour bus and began our journey across the island. The driver told us about Orkney's involvement in the two world wars as evidenced by garrets and sunken ships around the island.
We stopped in Kirkwall for about 40 minutes to view the famous Magus cathedral and to sample Orkney's famous ice cream. Then we drove toward Skara Brae, stopping occassionally for photos.
The entire tour was very rushed and when we finally arrived at Skara Brae, we only had about an hour and a half. Behind the visitor's center is a re-creation of one of the Skara Brae houses that you can walk through. Continue walking down the path and you come upon the actual ruins of this neolithic village. It is located right next to the sea. The tide was out and everything was green, blue, and gorgeous.
The site was revealed in 1850 by a changing tide and has been somewhat "restored" to its present condition. The site consists of one central room which was a tool making center and several stone dwellings around it. These are all built with stone slabs which can be found in rocking outcroppings along the shore. The same construction is used throughout northern Scotland in creating fences. The stones are stacked flatly against each other - no mortar is used.
The site really reminded me of the Viking landing site at L'ans aux Meadow. The scenery is very similar. But Skara Brae is over 5000 years old.
Next to Skara Brae is the Skail House - built in the 1700's. I only had about 10 minutes in the house before I had to return to the bus. There is a set of dishes set on one of the dining tables that came from Captain Cook's voyages.
Our next stop was to the Stones of Brodeger. This is a large stone circle and burial mound - very similar to Stonehenge. We had even less time here and I was the last to return to the bus and was chastized by the driver.
The stone circle is beautifully located on somewhat of a hill. Excavations continue here and the ides of the circle's purpose and size are varied and changing.
We drove by the Standing Stones of Stennis but only observed them from the road. There are three large stone circles on Orkney as well as burial mounds and other later stone village ruins. All I could think of was that I needed to come back to spend more time. I bought some books in the gift store which attempt to explain the various sites.
One interesting fact - the stones for these circles were quarried about 8 miles away from where they were placed. How did they get to where they are? Some are over two tons. There are no trees on the island due to the great winds, so they could not have been rolled along on logs. If they were dragged it seems to me like there would be some geologic evidence of it - earth scarring etc. An interesting mystery.
Our last stop was the Italian Chapel which was built by Italian prisoners of war. During World War II they were brought to the island to help in the building of the island's concrete causeways. The church is made of two army huts and adorned with the artistic talents of some of the Italian prisoners. There is beautiful wrought iron, frescos and tile work.
We met the return ferry and loaded into our bus on the other side. I slept a good deal of the route home and then walked back to the hotel.
Tomorrow - a general tour of the highlands and Loch Ness.

Aug. 9, 2010 Inverness

I awoke too early and misread the clock. I was supposed to be taking this day off. But I dressed and went down to a typical Scottish breakfast of eggs, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes and toast. Back in the room I conked out again for several hours.
In the afternoon I went out to explore the downtown area of Inverness. There are many tourist and woolen goods shops. One building houses the Victorian Market which is full of little shops. I bought some flags and visited a grocery store for supplies. Dinner was pieced together before I fell asleep again.
Sleep here is somewhat problematical for several reasons: there are shrieking seagulls who only seem to quiet for a few hours in the middle of the night. They seem to start at 4 AM and are still at it at 10 PM, and morning comes early - about
5AM. We are quite far north. The walls of the hotel are lacking modern insulation and some sounds from other rooms are transferred.

Aug. 8, 2010. Traveling

We awoke this morning on the plane just before arriving in London at 6:45 AM. Unfortunately I did not see any of the other people from our group after we left the plane. They were all off to their individual terminals. I said a quick good-bye to Kathy and then began my own journey to Scotland.
I had to reclaim my luggage, clear customs, and then wait 4 1/2 hours before British Air would let me check in my bags. I waited in terminal five and struggled to stay awake. Finally I went to check in my bags - 3 more hours to wait. While checking in, a snotty girl at British Air said my carry on bag was too big and sent me to another counter to pay extra fees. They told me it would be 35 pounds for each leg of the trip
That's 140 pounds to take it to Scotland and back - ridiculous. Then the woman at the counter told me there was a bag storage service for 8 pounds a day. But, I had to retrieve my already checked bags - no easy feat. I had to go down into the bowels of the terminal - fill out forms and wait. (At this point there were 1 1/2 hours left before the flight.) I finally got my bags and stored one at the service counter. Then I rushed back to British Air and checked in again - then security. The Terminal 5 lounge area is very crowded - lots of shops and people. I managed to buy a sandwich, eat it and make the plane on time.
I switched planes in Manchester - a small propeller plane. I met a nice woman from Inverness, also named Kathleen.
The cab ride from the airport was 25 pounds, which seemed a bit high - and perhaps not the directest route. I arrived at the Columba Hotel at around 9 PM - totally spacey and exhausted.
The hotel seems quite old but has been somewhat refurbished and given modern amenities. It is right on the Ness River and very near the downtown area.
My room is probably one of the worst in the hotel, with a view of rooftops and old-fashioned chimneys. The toilet handle was broken and I had trouble getting TV, but the Wi-Fi works great!

Aug. 7, 2010. The Last Day in Africa

We left at 6:40 AM this morning after cold water showers and a rushed breakfast. It was hours and hours of driving to get back to the Kenya border. Rough roads and a lead-footed driver made for a difficult journey. We stopped a couple of times for bathroom breaks but mostly just held on. We went through the usual paperwork at the border and then met our new driver, Amus. He had a large passenger van where all eight of us could spread out. The ride was a little more comfortable but still took hours. We finally arrived at the hotel at about 4:00 PM. We were given "day " rooms at the Inter-Continental.
We had time to shower and re-pack our bags before leaving for the airport at 7:00 PM. We would all be returning to London on the same flight. Kathy and I were lucky to get one of the few "pairs" of seats on the plane and we were very comfortable.
Tomorrow - more traveling.

Aug. 6, 2010. Ngorongoro Crater

We left early again this morning and drove a few hours to the Ngorongoro Crater. The "crater" is really a caldera - remnant of an enormous extinct volcano. It is about 10 miles across and the rim creates a unique lush ecosystem. There is an alkalai lake with greater and lesser flamingoes and a water dream system fed by underground springs. It is an idyllic place. Dome Masai bring their cattle here to graze but no one lives in the crater. Years ago the Germans had a coffee plantation on the side of the rim but there is very little trace of this now.
Here the animals seem to have everything they need; sun, water, grasses and food. We saw zebra, flamingo, jackals (silver-backed), warthogs, wildebeests, hartbeasts, black rhino, hippo, sacred ibis, African crowned cranes, a cheetah and a small pride of lions. We observed the lions for some time as they were easy to view and the male was easy to see. They also had at least one cub.
The lions and elephants in Africa go mostly unchallenged. They are the lords of their domain. A lion will move from an elephant and yesterday we saw a big cape buffalo bull chase off two lions, but all move for the elephant. Only the baby elephants are in danger from other animals. Elephants really only have msn to fear.
We had a picnic lunch beside a lake - hippo viewing was free. Unfortunately something bit me on my forearm and a big red welt developed around the bite. It is a little better as I am writing this - just itchy.
We arrived at the Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge at around 2:30. The lodge is built on the edge of the rim of the crater and the rooms have panoramic views. The lodge is beautiful. The main dining hAs a huge tall thatched roof.
I slept for a couple hours and then we went up to the lodge for dinner. Just as we were arriving, a group of Masai put on a dance and chant performance - similar to the ones we had seen before.
We all met in the dining room for our last dinner together. We took pictures and created a contact list for after we get home. Then we went back to our rooms for sleep and an early morning start
Tomorrow - we return to Nairobi.

Aug. 5, 2010. Serengeti

This morning we left at 7 AM for our game drive through the Serengeti. We have become quite jaded about the animals now - barely even noticing herds of zebra and Thompson's gazelles. We have seen quite a few warthogs here and
I have really come to enjoy them. I used to think they were interesting because they were so ugly, but actually they are very entertaining and cute - especially the babies. When they run they keep their tails straight up in the air like little flagpoles.
We drove to a hippo pool and observed a thunder of hippos sleeping in the water. They just looked like grey rocks until one would wiggle it's ears or put it's snout up for a breath.
Our driver then heard that there had been a leopard sighting and we raced to the area. There were many jeeps full of tourists watching a leopard off in the distance. She began to walk and we followed her in the jeep. There was one moment when she came out of the brush right in front of us. We followed parallel to her until she jumped into a tree and was completely camouflaged. She was quite a presence striding through the brush. An entourage of jeeps followed her and all the other animals around her watched her every move and then scattered.
We also ran across a couple of cheetahs who were having a stand off with a few hyena. One cheetah was wounded on his back leg and one of the hyenas had a bloody neck. We don't know exactly what had occurred but it was obvious that the two were very wary of each other.
We watched them for quite a while as they positioned and repositioned and finally moved away from each other. Our new driver, Samson, is a little more patient with out stops and we have longer opportunities to observe and take pictures.
After a while we came across another thunder of hippos who were out on the bank sunning themselves. After a while a whole herd of elephants walked into their pool . The hippos made way and held perfectly still as the elephants drank and washed in the pool. They had a baby elephant with them who was a curious little clown. First he went up to check out the hippos and then he went to play in the pool with all the relatives. It was an amazing scene - hippos and elephants at the pool.
We stopped at a visitor's center where we saw hyrox. I paid a fortune for a map of the park. Everything in Tanzania is expensive and the vendors really have no interest in bargaining. We have all bern disappointed by that.
We started back to the hotel, ate lunch (hamburger and fries), and then spent the rest of the afternoon resting.
Tomorrow, Ngorongoro Crater.