Switzerland

We flew to Zurich on an overnight flight from Nairobi and it was a welcome change to be back in 'civilization' for the first time since we left Singapore about a month ago. The hotel we're at in the suburbs was kind enough to allow us to check in at 7am so we were able to make the most out of our first day here. There really isn't much to Zurich but it is a beautiful city and we're happy to be here for a couple nights.

Train station:

Bahnhofstrasse, the main street in Zurich:

Further down Bahnhofstrasse:

Lake Zurich where the city is located upon:

Bridge scene in Zurich:

We walked around the core of Zurich pretty quickly and took the train to the city of Zug which is only thirty minutes away. Ryan wanted to visit Zug because it's home to some of the wealthiest people the world who also happen to be commodity traders. Zug has attracted many wealthy foreigners because in Switzerland, each canton (similar to state) can negotiate tax rates on an individual basis. One of the most famous residents is Marc Rich who Bill Clinton pardoned his last day in office for trading with Iran. He heads up the company Glencore which is one of the largest commodity traders in the world. There wasn't much to Zug and it just seemed like a smaller version of Zurich.

Zug is also on a lake like many towns in Switzerland.

To keep things moving, we took the train a half hour further and visited Lucerne. Honestly the three cities we visited looked very similar and we can't really say there was much to any of them.

Lucerne is again, on a lake:



Lucerne has some covered bridges in town which date back quite a while but didn't really excite us.

Hot air balloon ride

We've been waiting to do Shauna's first hot air balloon ride for a very long time and it was worth waiting to do it in one of the best places in the world. We'd like to thank you for the generous gifts of money we received for our wedding as this was an expensive activity and we've wanted to apply some of those segregated funds to some very special events which would produce eternal memories. Due to the high fixed expenses and a crew of over a dozen, there is no cheap way to fly in a hot air balloon but fortunately the price we paid was only double what it would cost in a high volume place like Orlando.

To catch the sunrise, we had to leave our lodge at 5am and it was an hour drive to the launch site. The balloon was already filled with cold air from high speed fans so it just required burning some propane to get enough hot air in for launch.


The burners do make a loud roar when fired but when they're not on, it's a beautiful silence as we were floating up and down across the landscape over an hour.





The landing was at higher than normal speed so we eventually tipped over onto the side but it was very gentle.

To finish off the ride, we were treated to a great breakfast spread and Champagne mimosas.


Thanks again to all of you who made this happen!!!! I loved floating in the hot air balloon and it's one of the most amazing things I've ever done. -Shauna

Safari days 2 and 3

Evolutionary biology really is an amazing thing to wonder how many of the animals we've been seeing have evolved. It's certainly true that reality is stranger than fiction and even the Ewoks of Star Wars look like they belong on Earth more than the creatures that roam around the Masai Mara.


The rhinos we saw were on a sanctuary so they were mildly tame as long as we stayed a couple meters away.

A bit of ostrich trivia is that it's the only animal whose eyeball is bigger than it's brain.

Hippos tend to spend most of the day in the water so it was nice to get a group photo of them sunbathing.

The newborn giraffe came into the world today and it can walk within five minutes of being born and run within fifteen minutes from what we were told.

Elephants eat all day, literally for up to something crazy like twenty hours. They also don't stop eating while it comes out the other end either, talk about a machine!


The cape buffalo pictured above is very, very dangerous although most people don't think it's so.

The leopard is Shauna's favorite animal but she won't admit to imagining a new fur coat when she sees each leopard.

If we had the heavy photo equipment like the guys below, our photos would've been much better.

Quick photo of us sticking out the top of the Land Rover.


To finish off our last evening with the lodge, the staff brought out a surprise cake which on it was written hopes that we can return. Certainly we'd suggest it to everyone we know and hope that we will return!

Ryan never had anything like this before and was really surprised and happy (but that doesn't mean people need to start doing it for him now).

Safari

It was just a quick 45 minute flight on a bush plane to our safari lodge on the banks of the Mara river. The concept of roughing it wasn't what we wanted to do this trip so we ended up at a beautiful luxury lodge run by Fairmont hotels. Lodging was in large tents but will full amenities like enclosed showers, toilets, large bed, etc... The meals have been spectacular with four course meals standard at each serving. It's currently low season for tourism so the lodge is only about a quarter full and even during high season the Kenyan industry has been hurting due to all the violence (which happened far away) from the most recent election.


Outside of our tent on the river is where the local hippos like to hang out. To have close proximity to the hippos is great because they're quite elusive and only seen in passing most places.


On the first day of the game drive, we were stuck in a quick downpour but the benefit was that a beautiful rainbow came afterwards. The rest of the photos speak for themselves.....

Above Shauna is posing with her pink leopard hat with decorative crystals next to the leopard we saw this morning. So Shauna!

Johannesburg/Nairobi

After returning from Victoria Falls, we spent an evening in Johannesburg and used the time to stock up on guidebooks for Europe. Jo'burg is similar to LA in the sense that it's very spread out and everyone drives everywhere. Unfortunately, the unbelievable crime rate means that most places to gather are malls or other compounds.

There are a some things in life that you don't do, such as tug on Superman's cape, spit into the wind or underestimate the danger of Johannesburg. It's our belief after numerous visits over many years to South Africa is that if you spend enough time in the country, it's just a matter of when one will become a victim of violent crime. The biggest wish of most is that they're a victim of organized crime rather than random crime because at least with organized crime, they just want money or jewelry rather than being high on drugs looking to rape.

Our friends picked us up from our hotel (the Westcliff again) to join them for pub quiz (where you sit and drink and compete against other tables in trivia) and they said that "no friends of theirs will take a cab in Johannesburg" due to the danger. The night went quickly and rather than have them drive us across down to our hotel again, we invoked one of the benefits of staying at a five star and just told the hotel to send the Benz over for pickup.

In the morning we took an early flight to Nairobi and didn't get settled until early evening. Nairobi is a congested town with not a whole lot on offer but we're staying at the oldest hotel in Kenya, The Norfolk which is managed by the Fairmont Group now.

Upon arrival in Nairobi, we had to confront two challenges (besides traffic), first was that one of Shauna's bags didn't make the flight even though we showed up with plenty of time at the airport and the second was that someone is trying to use Ryan's credit card in the US so the card company is canceling his card and will send him a new one.

Tomorrow morning we're off on another flight to the Masai Mara for a few nights at a safari lodge. We're not certain of how the internet will be, if there is any connection at all so forgive the lack of pictures until we get back and start the European leg our of honeymoon.

Victoria Falls

Forgive the tardiness on posting as we just returned to Johannesburg for the night from some great days in Victoria Falls on the Zambia side of the border. Our hotel was of a good standard but the internet connection was via satellite so it was difficult to do anything except the most elementary things.

Victoria Falls is worthy of a visit and has an amazing atmosphere in the nearby towns full of activities to do. We didn't budget enough time again and could've spent a few more days there easily. The native name of the Falls is 'the smoke that thunders' and although it is impressive with the amount of water the Zambezi River flows with, it was the dry season when we visited.

Because of the severe economic problems in Zimbabwe, we based ourselves on the Zambian side of the Zambezi River. Ryan visited Zimbabwe a few years ago and it remains the scariest place he's ever visited. We did however walk to the border post and bought some Zimbabwe dollars with the denomination of 100 Billion dollar notes which had a maximum value recently of about $1 US dollar.


The best view of the Falls is from the Zimbabwe side but we really enjoyed the view below from Zambia and didn't feel the need to cross the border.


After taking in the view on our first day, we signed up for an evening river (booze) cruise above the Falls.


We did see a lot of wildlife like hippos and crocodiles but the best photo we got was of some elephants crossing nearby our boat.

The following morning, we signed up for a rafting trip below the Falls on the Zambezi which is ranked as having some of the best rafting in the world. The River is full of class 3 to 5 rapids and even has a class 6 rapid (the highest level) which we had to walk around on shore as it's not commercially raft able. Ryan rafted it a few years ago so spent half the day riverboarding and the other half in the raft with Shauna. We both ended up swallowing a tremendous amount of water but so far have felt no ill effects.






After finishing rafting, we had a few hours to relax and then we went clay pigeon shooting. Both of us did well with the shotguns but it's not going to become our new hobby.


To cap off the full day, we finished up with a great dinner at the beautiful Royal Livingston hotel which is next to the hotel we stayed at. Fittingly, the band was playing 'What a Wonderful World' as soon as we were served our wine.

Both the Royal Livingstone and our hotel is located in Victoria Falls National Park and wildlife roams freely, including these zebras that Shauna made friends with.

Before flying to Johannesburg, we took a boat to Livingstone Island which is on the edge of the Falls. It's where Dr. Livingstone observed the Falls in full glory the first time and is a historical site. You can see in the below photo about why the natives referred to the Falls as 'the smoke that thunders.'



The best thing about visiting the island (which has a maximum of a dozen guests at a time) is that one can go swimming up to the edge of the Falls. It's entirely safe and it was nice to get that close to the edge in a safe manner.


Upon return to Johannesburg, we stocked up on books for our European leg and will be flying to Nairobi, Kenya in the morning. A bit of travel fatigue is setting in because we haven't spent more than three nights in one place over the last month and a half but we're looking forward to a few days at a safari lodge.