Week 58 May 13-22

We had a week back at work and then it was on to another vacation.  This time to Norway!  Molly's Mom and our good family friends, Steve, Karen and Allison, made the trip to Europe to spend a week with us.  They started their adventure in Amsterdam, where we met them on Friday.  We met at an apple pie shop to start the morning off right! Then, we explored the city and headed to the Van Gogh museum to check out some art.  Last time we were in Amsterdam, we missed the Van Gogh museum so we were excited to get see it this time.  It was a very interesting look into the short life of Van Gogh, and it was amazing to see the work he was able to complete within such a relatively small amount of time.  Many of his well known works are in other museums, but this  museum is filled with his family's collection.  After the museum, we tried out Indonesian food for dinner (turned out to be like a tangy Chipotle bowl) and started an interesting/stressful adventure to our hotel (couldn't find the right bus and didn't have the right tickets once we did) close to the airport to get ready for our adventure to Norway!

Pie, the best way to start vacation

We were up early and after a stop over in Copenhagen, we landed in Bergen, Norway, our home for the first few days of the trip.  Bergen is the second largest city in Norway and is located on one of the many fjords.  We arrived on Saturday afternoon, and we spent the rest of the day getting checked into our hotel, then wandering around to get our bearings in the city.  Our hotel had an awesome Norwegian waffle hour every afternoon complete jam and cream! We might have taken advantage of this option a few times.  On Sunday morning, we got up and headed for the cable car that would take us to the top of Mount Ulriken.  We did a 10 mile hike that took us from Mount Ulriken to the peak of Mount Floyen.  We were treated to beautiful views of the mountains, mountain top lakes and the city and fjords below us.  We were humbled by all of the Norwegians trail RUNNING the very difficult trail that we struggled to walk/climb.  Exhausted at the end of the hike, we took the funicular at Mount Floyen to return to the city and stopped at a local Norwegian restaurant for beer and typical Norwegian food.  Tyler got the opportunity to eat a whale steak and really enjoyed it.  For all of those shocked that we would eat whales, they were sustainably fished in Norway and it was not an endangered type whale... plus it was really tasty!

Bergen from above

Proof we did the hike!

And proof Tyler was there too

Post hike drinks

On Monday, we explored the many parks of Bergen and did the Rick Steves' walking tour to learn about the history of the vikings and people of Bryggen.  Bryggen is an area of commercial buildings near the wharf in Bergen that were built by the Hanseatic League.  Bryggen is a UNESCO world heritage site and the buildings are an iconic image of Bergen.  We had lunch at the fish market and a very fancy dinner with farm to table offerings.

Bryggen

The old church with a cannonball stuck in it

Fish market

Tuesday was Norwegian National Day.  We took the ferry from Bergen to Balestrand, a town of 2,000 people on the Sogne fjord.  Before leaving Bergen, we saw many people headed to celebrate in their traditional Norwegian dress and heard them fire the cannons in celebration.  The ferry to Balestrand was not just a means of transportation, it was also a wonderful way to see the Norwegian scenery.  The mountains rising sharply out of the water are amazing, and there were many large waterfalls dumping the winter snow melt into the fjords.  When we arrived in Balestrand, a few of us were able to hurry and see the end of the small Balestrand parade for the National Day.  After a nice lunch, we took a long walk around the town and into the surrounding hills before calling it an early night.  On Wednesday, Karen, Steve and Allison went in search of their family roots.  They were able to find some signs of Karen's family name as well as see many interesting things along their adventure.  We, along with Mandy, headed up into the mountains around Balestrand.  We had heard there was a difficult hike that would lead us to the peak of the mountain, and that there would be substantial snow still on the ground.  We were able to borrow two sets of snow shoes from the hotel and heard there would be another set to borrow along the trail somewhere.  We set off up the mountain.  We hiked about 1.5 miles (straight up!) before we hit snow.  We all strapped on our snow shoes (we did find an extra set) for the first time and gave it a whirl.  We had a great time and were able to hike for about another mile before the visibility was too bad and we were pretty cold.  We headed back down the mountain with a stop for lunch along the trail.  We were back into the city relatively early.  We took short naps and enjoyed the views from the hotel.  As we were heading for dinner, our friends returned from their adventures, and we were all able to eat together and swap stories of the day's adventures.

On the ferry on Norwegian National Day

The view from our hotel in Balestrand

Headed up the mountain

They are ready to snowshoe

 On Thursday, we visited the Balestrand aquarium before boarding the ferry toward Flam.  After another amazingly beautiful ferry ride, we landed in Flam to begin part of the Norway in a Nutshell tour.  This tour is done by most people visiting Norway in order to see the scenery and travel between Bergen and Oslo.  Prior to starting the train ride, we had a delicious lunch and brews at a local brewery in Flam.  We then boarded the Flam railway to take us to Myrdal.  It was a very scenic ride where it felt like the train was literally clinging for life to the side of the mountain at times.  There was a stop at the spectacular Kjofossen waterfall with a strange dancing siren sighting before arriving in Myrdal.  We took another scenic train ride to get from Myrdal to Oslo through high mountains where there were insane amounts of snow still remaining in May.

Buddies

Balestrand

The only trolls we saw in Norway were figurines :(

The Kjofossen waterfall

Molly's dinner on the train... hot dog with mashed potatoes...yes, the potatoes are the bun...

Oslo was the final stop on our trip.  We spent the night in a hotel with tiny rooms that efficiently made use of every inch of space.  We had one full day in Oslo and unfortunately the weather was not very cooperative.  We explored the city and did another Rick Steves' walking tour and paused to watch young sailors-in-training learning to sail in the harbor.  In the afternoon, after spending the morning in the drizzly outdoors, we made a visit to the Viking ship museum to spend some time inside.  It was fascinating to see the ships that had been unearthed from their burial grounds.  The vikings made sure they honored the dead with quite a haul.  Our final stop in Oslo was the Ice Bar!  It was a bar where everything was made of ice. We didn't stick around long because it wasn't a very comfortable environment but it was very cool to visit.  We all decided it would not be where we wanted to bar tend.  We then made our way to the airport hotel that we stayed prior to our early flights home.

The Royal Palace

A Greenpeace demonstration outside the palace

I think we could have watched this construction project all day. #dorks

Viking ship

The ice bar!

Karen and Allison enjoying their icy drinks

Our trip to Norway was Tyler's first big vacation with Karen, Steve and Allison.  Luckily, he fit in perfectly and even added some directional skill to the group!  We had a great trip with our adventure family and it was a great way to experience Norway.  We feel really fortunate to have had two back-to-back trips with some of our favorite people from the US that we do not get to see very often!

Week 56 May 1-8 Part IV: Camp Okavango, Botswana

Our final stop in Botswana was Camp Okavango in the middle of the delta.  This was the founding camp of what has now become the eight camp conglomerate of today.  Because the camp was established in the early 80's, it was time for a renovation.  We were fortunate to be some of the first guests to stay at the newly renovated camp.  The lodges were amazing.  Desert and Delta spared no expense to make the site luxurious and eco-friendly.  Built entirely on elevated boardwalks and run completely on solar power, the lodge attempts to make as little impact on the environment as possible.  And the accommodations themselves were spacious and comfortable.  You often felt guilty of being too dirty from the day's adventures to enter your own room.

In terms of activities, Okavango was different yet again from our previous experiences.  There were three options to pick from: a "mocorro" canoe tour, a game walk, and a delta boat ride.  We were led on these adventures by our guides Moffat and Kops.  The canoe trip was peaceful, with Kops guiding us with only a long pole to propel and steer.  With the exception of beautiful frogs, we did not see much wildlife up close, but it was a relaxing ride.

A peaceful delta

Chris, Andy and Moffat

On the game walk, it was great to get to stretch our legs, but also a bit frightening to not be in a vehicle.  In the end, most animals stayed pretty far away from us, but it was fun to get a slower perspective on land (and get a little exercise).  The boat trip was very similar to the one we had experienced in Moremi, but with more papyrus lined canals than open water.  One of the most memorable experiences at Camp O was the star gazing.  As mentioned before, the night sky in Botswana is so clear with no light pollution present.  Stars, planets, and galaxies are easily visible with the naked eye.  We had already enjoyed the experience of looking up with wonder after dark at the other camps, but Okavango was unique.  With the new renovation, they added a boardwalk that went straight out into the grasslands.  Once you were out on it, there were no trees to block your view.  On our last night at camp, Moffat led us out to the end of the boardwalk, and we all turned off our flashlights.  It was the most open and unadulterated view of the night sky we had ever seen.  We stayed staring in awe until our necks were too sore to keep looking up.

Stretching our legs

But watching for lions!

Moffat made Tyler a necklace out of a water lily

Another amazing sunset

The final topic we haven't yet discussed throughout our safari adventure: our fellow travelers.  Each camp had a maximum of 24 visitors at a time, and we were 4 of those.  You interact with all of the other guests at each meal time, and we were paired with another 2-4 people for all activities.  Needless to say, you get to know a bit more about your fellow travelers than your average hotel stay.  We quickly learned that we were the youngest and least wealthy safari adventurers.  Most of the other guests were staying for multiple weeks in Botswana on a semi-retirement tour.  Most were not American (Australians and Germans seemed to dominate and sometimes conflict).  And all of them had interesting life stories that they were willing to share.  The degrees of wealth and fame got us a bit too excited about who we might possibly rub shoulders with at the dinner table.  When checking out at Moremi, Chris happened to see that one of the next guests arriving was only noted by one name: Adele.  After long breathless moments of waiting to see the diva descend the bush plane steps, it turns out this Adele was not the one we'd hoped.  In the end, we met some very interesting and enjoyable people from all over the world, and interacting with them was a bit of an unexpected highlight of the trip.

And just like that, our safari adventure was over.  We packed up at Camp Okavango, and we started the very long journey back to real life.  We never expected to travel to Africa at any point soon in our lives.  And when Chris and Andy pitched the idea to us, we had come up with a lot of reasons not to go.  Looking back, we can't believe that we ever doubted the idea for a second.  It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that we will never forget.  It was made even more unforgettable by getting to have that experience with our best friends.  Getting to talk and laugh with those guys anywhere in the world would have been enjoyable, but we were fortunate enough to get to do so in one of the world's few remaining preserved natural environments.  In the running for "Best Trip Ever," this one is going to be hard to top.        

Links for the future safari adventurers of the group!
1. Conservation Safari Company - We booked our safari with Jamie Thom and Conservation Safari Company.  He was awesome and designed the perfect trip for us!
2. Desert and Delta Safaris - Other than Victoria Falls, all of the safari camps that we visited were owned  by Desert and Delta.  We loved the staff, the facilities and of course the animals!  We enjoyed living in the lap of luxury in the middle of the bush.
3. Victoria Falls Hotel - Great hotel within walking distance of the falls.

Week 56 May 1-8 Part III: Camp Moremi, Botswana

After two days in Savute, it was time to move to our next camp.  Another short bush plane ride took us from landing strip to landing strip.  As expected, the view was amazing, but in a different way.  Our destination, Camp Moremi, sits on the edge of the Okavango River Delta.  This massive waterway is the largest inland delta in the world.  It is formed from the rain water falling in Angola and running downhill into Botswana.  Over the course of a year, the delta grows and shrinks with the rainy and dry seasons.  As we flew, the desert terrain suddenly shifted to blue ponds and green grass.  It was amazing to see how the presence of water drastically changed the appearance and feel of the land despite not having traveled much distance.

We were picked up at the "airport" by our next guide, KT.  This young gun was an enthusiastic tracker who really seemed to enjoy the chase of hunting the next animal sighting.  Due to the already mentioned changes in terrain, the ride was often a bit bumpier in Moremi, but this didn't slow KT down.  If he thought he could get us close to some wildlife, he didn't hesitate to put the pedal down and cut some corners.  Just like the terrain, the types of animals also changed now that we were closer to the water.  Baboons, monkeys, waterbucks, lions, water buffaloes, wild dogs, crocodiles, hippos and eagles all showed up during our time in Moremi.  The highlights included a pair of rogue lion brothers hunting water buffalo and a very close encounter with some annoyed hippos (Us: "That hippo seems kind of irritated.  Are they aggressive?"  KT: "Yes, very" accompanied by full reverse throttle).  Our KT led activities were primarily game drives (3 in total), but included one boat ride on the delta.  This nice change of pace didn't offer as many up-close views of wildlife, but it was certainly relaxing to have a smooth ride on the water after being thrown around in the back of a jeep for a couple days straight.  And if it was possible, the sunset was even more amazing.

A baboon with her baby

Saddle-billed stork

A croc

Velvet monkeys

A small breakfast

As we wrote about in previous posts, the safari life at these camps is one of luxury.  Every meal and snack (6 in total per day) was served with care and style.  The staff to guest ratio felt like 100 to 1.  Every time you cleaned your plate, it was cleared away before you even had time to set your fork down.  And you never saw the bottom of your wine glass, as they were always quick to top you off.  Not only were there plenty of staff members, but they were all extremely friendly, courteous, and helpful.  They even provided entertainment by performing traditional song and dance displays before dinner.  In no camp did we feel more spoiled than in Moremi.  Due to a bit of lucky timing, for one night only, the four us were the only guests on the property.  Not only did we receive the already high level of service, but they set a candle-lit table for us under the stars.  We were pretty sure this was a test run for filming an episode of the "Bachelor."      

mongoose

A waterbuck

There were less-than-glamorous times as well.  Despite being a naturally beautiful place, Africa has some well known diseases still making problems.  Before leaving Belgium, we had to get a whole battery of shots to preserve our health.  However, from some medical reason, malaria does not have a shot option for prevention.  The only option is to take a pill daily while in the malaria-risk area and 7 days after leaving.  Taking a daily pill is much preferable to a shot, but the malaria pills cause some intense heartburn and can cause strange, lucid dreams.  Then of course as any traveler knows, whenever you go far from home, you are most likely going to experience some intestinal discomfort.  We all suffered from some fairly uncomfortable symptoms for a couple days.  In the end, all of us skipped 1-2 activities along the way to curl up in the fetal position and try to re-hydrate.

I think we would all say that the level of discomfort was certainly worth trading for the amazing experience we had.  We would gladly do it again!