Thursday, October 25, 2012

El Gato Perezoso

I was lucky enough to have a weekend off when I went for a short work trip to Mexico City in March 2011. I spent one day at the Teotihuacan pyramids, marvelling at the construction, and another day seeing the sights of the Mexico City. I strolled through the San Angel market full of vibrant art, popcorn machines, and a concert band under a rotunda. I walked around the Museo del Carmen, which is a former convent that's been turned into a museum (complete with mummies in the crypt). My day ended with a visit to "La Casa Azul" (The Blue House) where the artist Frida Khalo made her home. It's a wonderful museum now with a lovely garden (which has its own pyramid, as you do).

I was wandering around enjoying the sunlight when I spotted this guy who'd found his own little bit of shade, and didn't look like he was in any hurry to move. A very lazy cat.

The Usual Suspects

The Nairobi National Park is about 30 minutes away from the city centre, so going for an afternoon safari is completely feasible, and a much more exciting Sunday drive than I ever went on as a kid! A couple of friends and I hired a driver (in a little hatchback) to take us to the Baby Elephant Orphanage, the Giraffe Sanctuary and the National Park one Sunday last year. We cruised around and saw wild giraffes, and antelopes and were even able to go for a little walk (escorted by an armed ranger) where we didn't see much more than monkeys and crocodiles, but it was still pretty cool to do a walking safari. 

We then drove through a large herd of zebras, all spread out and grazing in the grass, except for these four, standing equal distance apart, as if in a police line up. 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Huffin and Puffin

I'm not sure where my fascination with puffins came from, but I was talking to a Scottish colleague when I was in South Sudan and she mentioned that puffins come to the Isle of Skye where she lives every year around April/May. An invitation was extended for me to visit, and as luck would have it, I had to go to the UK for work in May, so I was happily able to accept. Her neighbour captains a tourist boat, and he told me not to get my hopes up of seeing any puffins, as he hadn't spotted any for a couple of weeks and I might have left it too late. I resigned myself to having missed out, but went on a little boat trip anyway and was happy enough to spot a Golden Eagle and some seals.

After cruising around on the boat for a while, the captain suddenly cut the engine and we drifted towards three little birds bobbing in the water. I wasn't sure what I was seeing at first, but then the bright beaks became apparent and I squealed with delight. Unfortunately we couldn't get too close to them without scaring them underwater, so the photo above was digitally zoomed as far as my camera could cope. They were just so cute and expressive and I'm so glad they'd decided to stick around a little longer before their migration. Puffins!!

Slurp!

Wow, I really have been bad with my travel tails over the last year - and there have been so many! I'm committing myself to catching up on quite a few, they won't be in order of when they happened, I'll try to mix it up a bit. Considering I've spent much of the past 12 months in Africa you can expect quite a few exotic animals, and some less so as well.

For something different I'm including myself in one of these posts, as it's kind of the point. The Giraffe Sanctuary in Nairobi, Kenya is a wonderful, magical place because you're able to get up close and personal with these beautiful creatures. The viewing platform is elevated to (giraffe) head height and when the giraffes are a bit peckish they wander over to eat some pellets. These can be fed by hand as in the photo above, or for a really close encounter, you put a pellet between your lips and get your face slurped off by a long black tongue...there's nothing else like it in the world! I went twice to the Sanctuary during my stays in Nairobi and I can't recommend it highly enough. There are lots of educational posters, and the staff are extremely knowledgeable about all things giraffe. And the giraffes themselves are incredible up close, with their flapping ears, long eyelashes and inquisitive gazes.