Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Fourteen

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November 13 (Friday, Day 16, Zanzibar, Tanzania) -

Zanzibar bus queue on the dock

Before meeting for our tour, we weighed ourselves and were pleasantly surprised to see that we were at our pre-cruise weights. Yippee!!! (Not using the elevators on the ship really does work!) We met for our tour at 8:45 AM and boarded our air-conditioned bus. We were going to Jozani Forest Reserve to see red colobus monkeys that can only be found in Zanzibar. The forest was about 22 miles away from the ship and the drive was on a nice asphalt road. Our guide said that the road was about 1 year old. Who knows what it was like prior to the asphalt?

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirteen

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November 12 (Thursday, Day 15, Mombasa, Kenya) (Continued) -

The Tsavo East gate, as we depart (with Ahmed, our driver/tour guide)

On the drive back to the ship, we saw more and more people walking along the highway and the little villages were busier with people.

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twelve

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November 12 (Thursday, Day 15, Mombasa, Kenya) (Continued) -

Lilac breasted roller

After lunch we had another game drive as we wound our way out of the park.

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Eleven

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November 12 (Thursday, Day 15, Mombasa, Kenya) (Continued) -

Stuck

Toward the end of our 3-hour game drive as we were nearing the Voi Safari Lodge for our lunch, our driver decided to pass the van in front of us and ended up getting stuck in the sand. What a moron. There was no need to try to pass the other van. The other van tried to push our van but that didn’t work so then they got a cable and supposedly connected it to both vans. Oops! It wasn’t connected to the other van. They finally got it straightened out and we got to lunch about 10 minutes later. This would have been comical except for the fact that Snookums desperately had to use the bathroom for about the past two hours and was in pain most of that time and was getting increasingly worried that there was going to be a mess on the seat. Alas, when we finally got to the lodge and she stood up, Filbert assured her that her shorts were clean. She cut in line at the women’s room and obtained the necessary relief.

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Ten

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November 12 (Thursday, Day 15, Mombasa, Kenya) (Continued) -

The game drive through Tsavo East National Park continues . . .

Stork on final

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Nine

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November 12 (Thursday, Day 15, Mombasa, Kenya) (Continued) -

A bird in the bush

We got to the game park and the driver/guide popped the van top. We could all stand up and still have about 1 foot of clearance. One of our first animals that we saw was a lioness walking. We were surprised to see this since lions usually rest during the heat of the day. This park doesn’t allow for off-road driving so we couldn’t follow her. Anyway, we were fortunate to see her since when we talked to other people on this game drive, they didn’t see any lions. She was really camera-shy, walking behind a lot of bushes, so Filbert didn't get a photo of her, much to his chagrin. He'd look up, see her, try to aim the camera as she'd pass behind a bush, look up, see her come out from behind the bush, try to aim the camera as she went behind another bush. This went on for a while.

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Eight

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November 12 (Thursday, Day 15, Mombasa, Kenya) -

In the van, on the dock

Our day started early since our trip to Tsavo East National Park left at 7:30. We boarded our non-air-conditioned van with pop-up roof for our 60-mile drive to the park. The 6 of us each got a window seat which is ideal for a game drive. We were on the main “highway” that goes from Mombasa to Nairobi. We saw some trucks, very few cars and even fewer bicycles (and basically no scooters or motorcycles). Many people were walking along the highway and half of them were barefoot. We don’t know where they were going. We would come upon a “village” every few miles or so that seemed to be made up of a few one-room “buildings” and some one-room “houses” way behind the buildings. Most were made of the red clay dirt. It was interesting to see the men and women working in the fields. They appeared to be personal farms and the workers (maybe husband and wife?) were hoeing with what looked like homemade tools.

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Seven

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November 10 (Tuesday, Day 13, Cruising the Indian Ocean) -

Fair skies, smooth seas

We both woke up around 7 AM and Snookums was very happy that Filbert was feeling just about 100%. Filbert went to breakfast for his instant oatmeal and Snookums walked around the deck for 30 minutes. She saw a Regent employee standing watch for pirates. There are also four Israeli commandos on the ship, too, for protection in case of pirates. Snookums saw that Carl was walking, too, and recruited him for the “Muscle Mix” class so they went to that together. (Filbert wasn’t quite feeling well enough to work out.) Then she had her normal outdoor breakfast of thick raisin French toast and two orders of mixed berries. They had been out of berries for the past couple of days but must have gotten more yesterday in the Seychelles. The raspberries and blackberries are huge and very tasty.

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Six

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November 9 (Monday, Day 12, Port Victoria and Praslin, Seychelles, continued) -

Snorkeling at Coral Island:

Ray, just as soon as we got into the water

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Five

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November 5 (Thursday, Day 8, Malé, Maldives) -

Malé. It's flat.

We woke up around 6:30 AM and decided to walk around deck 11 for 30 minutes at 7 AM to enjoy the beautiful day. Snookums did laundry for the third time. Working out frequently causes us to get clothes dirty. We were supposed to drop anchor around noon but got in later. In any event, it started raining hard around 11 AM. We were scheduled to go on a shore excursion that would take us to a beach for 2.5 hours. We were hoping to go snorkeling since the Maldives are known for diving and snorkeling but a snorkel excursion wasn’t offered. So, we thought we would go to the beach and hope that there were some reefs nearby. The rain made us rethink those plans.

More after the jump . . .