Vancouver Island

We've been to Vancouver Island twice before this trip, once to Ucluelet on the west side and once to Victoria in the south. This time we went up the east coast and to the very northern tip to meet up with some friends in Telegraph Cove. We even got to have a boat ride with them as they run a whale watching company and were kind enough to take us out on the water for a little tour of the area.
The whole of the island is prett wild and open, and once you go north of Nanaimo it feels even bigger and wilder. It was a long haul through not much but the wilderness from Campbell River to Telegraph Cove with some lovely views of mountains and rivers along the way.
Sunsets at the north end where we were staying can be pretty breathtaking as well, and our first evening out looked like this, with the whole ocean turning purple and taking everyones breath away.

Fellow Travellers

I've posted lots of pictures of mammals and birds and scenery but until now not actually done a proper post on our tour group (though you can already learn all about our guides). So here's a group photo taken in our last few days in Kenya. We had lots of meals and chats with everyone in the and plan to stay in touch as best we can, although we're more likely to visit with people in BC than Utah (but we'll do our best).
The tour was lead and organized by Bob Taylor (no relation) who lead the tour my dad went on in '86 as well as the one dad and I went on in '96 so he has a ton of experience and clearly runs a great expedition. He's shown below with his girlfriend Jennifer who was also on the trip and a total sweetheart.
And finally out of tradition of showing 3 pictures per posting, here's one of the pair of us at Ngorongoro Crater. Sorry for the recent lull in postings, we had a busy week and then a long weekend on Vancouver Island out visiting friends from this trip, so the next week or two may shift to have a more BC-centric viewpoint, but we have lots left in Africa yet and some video coming together too.

Maasai People

Although I touched on the life of the Maasai people briefly, it has taken me far too long to post an entry on the look of the people themselves. In the Ngorongoro Conservation Area we made a stop at a Maasai village where we were given a proper tour of their way of life and given carte blanche to take pictures of them. As I mentioned earlier, it is illegal to take pictures of the Maasai without their knowledge and negotiating a payment, so being in the village and around that problem altogether I made sure to get some portraits.
This woman was selling beads and hand made jewelry. With herself and the man above (and many of the older villagers) I was struck by the fascinating differences in their fashion and personal decoration, as well as how differently people over there age compared to what we are used to in North America. Many people had irregular teeth from a more basic dental regimine and many of them had eye problems, likely as a mixture of the harsh sunlight and constant dust.
This fellow, named Mola, was our guide in the tour of the village and also arranged for us to buy a spear for Kathryn's brother from one of his friends. Being amateurs at haggling and with Kathryn so clearly wanting a spear I am sure he got a price he was more than happy with from us, but we got to buy a story out of the deal and walked away smiling, so it was money well spent.

Amsterdam: City of.... okay seriously, wtf?

And all drugs, art, sex and culture aside, there were a few things in Amsterdam that just made no sense or were weird enough to warrant their own post. Like the gift shop below that featured one of those famouse Dutch ceiling cows you're always hearing about... and by that I mean why on earth was there a life size replica cow nailed to the ceiling of a place selling wooden tulips and clog keychains?
There's some kinds of architecture that just don't age as well as others, and one of the motifs that has certainly been out of fashion for awhile is leering skulls and dead-eyed babies. Maybe it was making a comment on some plague or war at the time, but history has moved on and left this particular bit of work out in the cold. And weirder still it wasn't in a cemetery or anything, it was in the side of a shopping district building. Or maybe advertising is just different over there.
This is exactly what it looks like, courtesy of the Sex Museum. Pleasant dreams everyone...

Amsterdam: City of Vice

Along with all the history and art, Amsterdam has a rather famous seedy and wild side that we only peeked around the edge of. Don't let the swans below fool you, the Red Light District is pretty crazy. Every corner is covered in sex shops, lingerie stores or glass doors with prostitutes flaunting their wares to passersby. Weirdly enough the area always felt safe despite the bawdy nature of it, no doubt in part to a steady police presence and daily cleanup crew, but we saw families with children wandering around at 9 at night without concern so its clearly not too bad.
Even more prolific than the brothels, Coffee Shops are peppered through every corner of the downtown core. Here you can buy pot from the guy at the counter or just get a coffee and smoke your own if you want. Every little souvenir shop within 100 yards of one of these places also sells pot, mushrooms, salvia and pretty much any soft drug you can imagine.
Even vice gets its own museum there, with 3 floors of exhibits covering everything from the history of burlesque to fetishes and an animatronic Marilyn Monroe posing for photo shoots. Also included are a number of artifacts from various cultures dating back hundreds of years, showing that mankind has been giving this particular subject a lot of thought for a long time.
Even being green hippys from Vancouver we found Amsterdam to have an unexpectedly liberal and unrestrained feeling which took some getting used to but became enjoyable after a day or two. I imagine that living in the downtown core would get exhausting pretty quick however.

Amsterdam: City of Art

Being an old European city, Amsterdam is full of museums, and since we were there in a rather rainy and wet springtime, it was an ideal time to check out as many as we could. The Rijks Museum was under heavy renovations (like most of the rest of Europe constantly is) but there was still quite a bit on display inside. The highlight for us both was "The Nightwatch" which is a Rembrandt classic, but there were lots of other paintings and works of art to make it a memorable visit.
The Van Gogh museum is quite enjoyable as well, featuring many of his paintings alongside other painters in the expressionist movement. While I don't personally 'get' many of his paintings it was nice to see them all the same, although some that Kathryn had been hoping to see were out on loan to other museums.
We also visited Anne Frank house which maintains the original buildings and interiors behind this updated and reinforced exterior. The tour is very well arranged to guide people linearly through the home and into the attic annex where they stayed. Following the wishes of the surviving father that started the museum, the interiors are all stripped bear as the nazis left them after the people hiding there were discovered.
None of the museums allow photography so you'll have to make do with these exteriors as proof that we actually went to these places, but all are certainly worth a look should you find yourselves in Amsterdam one day.

Amsterdam: City of Architecture

Changing topics very slightly from the last few months, we also spent several days in Amsterdam on the way back from Africa. Amsterdam in early spring being about as opposite to African summer as we could find without having to change routes on the way home. It was a little cold and wet but still home to some breathtaking architecture and full of history. Getting around was quite enjoyable as well as there were canals everywhere which dictated the layout of the city and made it feel like you were always walking along the river.
You know Europe is spoiled for churches when even the guidebook says there aren't many impressive ones in Amsterdam. Coming from the Canadian prairies we still had to give credit to Newekirk cathedral for being more impressive than anything on our continent. We had a look around the interior and it was full of beautiful carvings, candle filled alcoves and a giant organ, just like most churches in Europe.
Even the train station was sweeping and grand as the panorama below shows (click to enlarge). We came in through here from the airport express and our hotel was right across the street. The old district of the city where we spent most of our time was only a few square miles and easy enough to navigate once we got used to it, and after weeks in vans and camps it was nice to stretch our legs a bit.

Oldupai Gorge

On a drive between parks in Tanzania we were fortunate enough to pass through Oldupai Gorge. For those of you not married to archaeologists, this might have been less of a treat, but it was very interesting for us as its a site of numerous early human discoveries and is considered by many to be "the cradle of humankind."
Often called Olduvai gorge, we were told its actually a mispronunciation of Oldupai which is a kind of seisel plant common to the area which was recorded improperly by early explorers. Given that its African and not European we're trying to be proper and use the correct spelling, and now that you know better, you can too ;)
There was a very nice little museum at the same spot and a covered area we could escape from the heat, eat our packed lunch and listen to a talk about the area at. We passed through the area on my birthday as well and it was a fun contrast to start my 32nd year in the same place that mankind was getting his first steps 2.5 million years earlier.

Giraffe Sanctuary

The city of Nairobi has a giraffe sanctuary which I had been telling Kathryn about for ages. I was mildly worried that it wouldn't live up to the hype, but it still delivered in spades when we got there. The first trick that was new to me was the 'french kiss' where you put a food pellet in you mouth and they'll nibble it away from you as seen below.
Since each food pellet is tiny and giraffes are sizeable beasts, they are quite happy to eat little pellets all day, so we had time to play around and have them eat of Kathryns hat as well.
Being at head height with these wonderful animals is truly a joy and it was wonderful that we could fit it in during our last few hours in the country. After seeing these guys so many times in the wild it was great to get up close and personal.