Return from black hole (and the north)
3 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 05 June 2008 at 6/05/2008 01:37:00 pm.
So there are all sorts of stories to tell about where we've been and how we've finally gotten back to being up and running again, but it looks like the Internet guy is coming over to disconnect us AGAIN in order to install the network PROPERLY this time.... so for now it looks like there's only time for photos.
oh well.... at least I can reminisce. I miss where we've been!
The first day, we woke up early and flew out to Maun, in order to hire a car and drive up to our project site up in Gumare. Nearly as far away from Gabz-city as you can get. In fact, it's only about 30 minutes south of the northernmost Caprivi Strip boarder with Namibia.
No photos of the site, please.
Just of where we stayed: an old fishing camp on Nguma lagoon. Western side of the Okavango panhandle. Boy do I have some stories to tell about the lady that owns this place.
At any rate, some photos:
Our tent: raised up on stilts above the lagoon water. You can hear hippos moaning and groaning beneath, behind, all around you. The whole place is built up on these stilts, everything connected by raised walkways.
Inside the tent: the bathroom (where the Mr. is standing) is an open-air toilet, sink, and shower. It was a sweet setup... just a shame about the single beds. But we both still fit in one, so no bother.
The too-cute bar in the main lodge building. We enjoyed a bunch of red wine and then some port, in here. No other guests, so we had the place to ourselves.
After we were done in Guuu-maaarrr-eeee (sung to "Volare", of course), we headed back down to Maun, where we were gonna hole up in a lodge for the weekend. Talk about R&R.... when we got there we found out they bumped us up from one of the safari tents, to our own honeymoon chalet. Why? Because they had a flight crew who needed all the tents. Whose flight crew? Well, they couldn't tell us exactly but from what we got out of the pilots that night... it was none other than.... well, "how many billionaires do YOU know from the Seattle area???"
Our chalet:
Outdoor shower:
Come on, really, who needs a KING sized bed....
Bathtub with panoramic views to the bush. We got good use out of this baby.
The lodge was on a massive plot of many many many acres on a private game farm. You could walk around loads of hiking trails, amongst the giraffe and zebra and kudu and ostrich and springbok and impala and... etc. More birds than you could shake a stick at.
I can't put into words how relaxing the lodge was over the weekend. Even though I had to work on my assignment and the Mr. had to do some studying, we came back as if we'd been on holiday for a week. They just spoil you rotten up there and there are no set times for breakfast or anything, you can just put your feet up and watch nature at your own pace.
Even the flight crew who we were sharing the place with were so sweet. Nice to be around some Americans for awhile, talking about crap like Emeril and the Pacific Northwest, etc, etc. Their life is such a curious one... they just had to sit here at the lodge while the "client" was off in the Delta on some mega 5-star safari. He would just um, ring them (!) when he was ready to leave. They drop everything, the jet gets fired up, and they whisk him off to Nairobi. (yes, Nairobi - his next stop on this particular little holiday). Oh yeah, you know you're rich when you want to go on holiday, so you phone up your private jet and private flight crew and fly off to Botswana. But you know you're HIS-KINDA-RICH when you decide that you'd like to take 11 people along, and your private jet only seats 10... so you just grab a 2nd one, and a 2nd flight crew!! Damn!!! (and that's why we got bumped up to a chalet instead of a safari tent!!!)
The food was amazing and the proprietors were the sweetest people ever. I want them to be my parents.
I did not want to go hoooooommmme!!!!!
oh well.... at least I can reminisce. I miss where we've been!
The first day, we woke up early and flew out to Maun, in order to hire a car and drive up to our project site up in Gumare. Nearly as far away from Gabz-city as you can get. In fact, it's only about 30 minutes south of the northernmost Caprivi Strip boarder with Namibia.
No photos of the site, please.
Just of where we stayed: an old fishing camp on Nguma lagoon. Western side of the Okavango panhandle. Boy do I have some stories to tell about the lady that owns this place.
At any rate, some photos:
Our tent: raised up on stilts above the lagoon water. You can hear hippos moaning and groaning beneath, behind, all around you. The whole place is built up on these stilts, everything connected by raised walkways.
Inside the tent: the bathroom (where the Mr. is standing) is an open-air toilet, sink, and shower. It was a sweet setup... just a shame about the single beds. But we both still fit in one, so no bother.
The too-cute bar in the main lodge building. We enjoyed a bunch of red wine and then some port, in here. No other guests, so we had the place to ourselves.
After we were done in Guuu-maaarrr-eeee (sung to "Volare", of course), we headed back down to Maun, where we were gonna hole up in a lodge for the weekend. Talk about R&R.... when we got there we found out they bumped us up from one of the safari tents, to our own honeymoon chalet. Why? Because they had a flight crew who needed all the tents. Whose flight crew? Well, they couldn't tell us exactly but from what we got out of the pilots that night... it was none other than.... well, "how many billionaires do YOU know from the Seattle area???"
Our chalet:
Outdoor shower:
Come on, really, who needs a KING sized bed....
The veranda off of our bedroom where we sat out and studied, and read and watched birds for the whole weekend:
Bathtub with panoramic views to the bush. We got good use out of this baby.
The lodge was on a massive plot of many many many acres on a private game farm. You could walk around loads of hiking trails, amongst the giraffe and zebra and kudu and ostrich and springbok and impala and... etc. More birds than you could shake a stick at.
I can't put into words how relaxing the lodge was over the weekend. Even though I had to work on my assignment and the Mr. had to do some studying, we came back as if we'd been on holiday for a week. They just spoil you rotten up there and there are no set times for breakfast or anything, you can just put your feet up and watch nature at your own pace.
Even the flight crew who we were sharing the place with were so sweet. Nice to be around some Americans for awhile, talking about crap like Emeril and the Pacific Northwest, etc, etc. Their life is such a curious one... they just had to sit here at the lodge while the "client" was off in the Delta on some mega 5-star safari. He would just um, ring them (!) when he was ready to leave. They drop everything, the jet gets fired up, and they whisk him off to Nairobi. (yes, Nairobi - his next stop on this particular little holiday). Oh yeah, you know you're rich when you want to go on holiday, so you phone up your private jet and private flight crew and fly off to Botswana. But you know you're HIS-KINDA-RICH when you decide that you'd like to take 11 people along, and your private jet only seats 10... so you just grab a 2nd one, and a 2nd flight crew!! Damn!!! (and that's why we got bumped up to a chalet instead of a safari tent!!!)
The food was amazing and the proprietors were the sweetest people ever. I want them to be my parents.
I did not want to go hoooooommmme!!!!!
I am dating a tatooed lady named Lisa. I like the thought of hippos scurrying underneath your beds when you are asleep. Hungry Hungry hippo. Please do not feed the beagley-bassetys to the hippos. - Salt Peterman
Beagley Bassety busy be gobbling her nightly victuals. How are you? I am drinking some merlot from a bottle with a screw top and I am about to take the dog on her nightly walk-n-sniff. SP
Whose idea was it to allow Bean near a computer?