Out of Africa

We're back on the boat in Toul after a fascinating 12-night safari in Kenya. The trip encompassed some "firsts" for us--our first time in Africa and our first time in the southern hemisphere.

It was disconcerting for us to find ourselves relegated to different hemispheres. The Ol Pejeta
Conservancy is in central Kenya and was the furthest north we traveled. Our other
three stops were south of the equator.

The trip was also unusual for us in that it was wholly nature-oriented. There were no stays in cities or towns of any size (other than briefly in Nairobi for the flights to-and-from Kenya), and no focus on historical events. Our goal was to see as many African animals as possible in their natural habitat, so that's how our trip was arranged.

We're normally independent travelers, but a safari was, for us, something best done using the services of local experts. We signed up with the tour operator "Gamewatchers Safaris." They came highly recommended by friends who'd used them for a safari in 2024, and we really liked their business model. Gamewatchers, like any travel agency, is able to book stays in a variety of places, but is somewhat unusual in that it owns and operates several small-scale, eco-friendly tented camps--operating under the name "Porini Camps"--in various private Kenyan wildlife conservancies. The conservancies in the Maasai Mara and Amboseli ecosystems in the south and west of Kenya benefit the local Maasai communities via lease payments for the use of their land. (The Ol Pejeta conservancy in central Kenya is not organized in quite the same way, but is still very much focused on conservation and working with the local populations.) Gamewatchers also benefits the Maasai by employing several hundred Maasai to staff the Porini camps. The expansion of wildlife habitat beyond the national parks and reserves has contributed to wildlife recovery and habitat/vegetation improvement in Kenya. A win-win approach to conservation.

Rather than travel to several different African countries, we chose to stay strictly in Kenya and get our variety by staying in Porini camps in 4 different conservancies. The conservancies promised to be less crowded than the national parks and reserves, and the off-road driving allowed in the conservancies allowed for closer viewing of animals. Off-road driving also meant lots of bumps--the "Maasai Massage"--and getting close to bushes and trees as the drivers found their best way through the bush. "Mind the bush" became a mantra of our guides from the very beginning of our game drives.

The travel to Kenya did not begin well on September 4. We were to fly from Paris to Brussels to Nairobi on Brussels Airlines, but a departure delay from Paris meant that we would miss our connection in Brussels. Therefore, we were rebooked on Turkish Airlines with a Paris-Istanbul-Nairobi itinerary. That flight from Paris was also delayed, but with some fast walking we managed to make the connecting flight in Istanbul. We arrived in Nairobi about 2 a.m., and it was nearly 3:30 a.m. when we got to our hotel. It was definitely my shortest hotel stay ever. We had time for a 1-hour nap before we had to be up for breakfast and a 6 a.m. pick-up that would get us to our flight to the Selenkay Conservancy and Porini Amboseli Camp--except that 6 a.m. came and went and no car arrived to collect us. It turns out that the driver had been in a car accident. How a substitute limo was found nearly immediately we've no idea, but it was a crazy drive to Wilson Airport, where the small, local airlines are located. With the way things had been going I was almost afraid to get on that small prop plane, but it turned out to be a nice flight, and everything from that point went great.

Our itinerary was as follows:

Porini Amboseli Camp, Selenkay Conservancy, Sept. 5-8: PAC is the only safari camp in the Selenkay Conservancy, just over the northern boundary of Amboseli National Park and not all that far from the border with Tanzania. Although hazy, Mount Kilamanjaro could be seen from the conservancy (and more easily from Amboseli National Park, which is closer to Tanzania).

We spent one day in Amboseli National Park. It was too hazy to see Mount Kilimanjaro well, but
the use of a lot of filters post-photo allows the mountain, and the tiny bit of snow at its peak, to
 be seen behind the elephants.

Porini Rhino Camp, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Sept. 8-11: We flew to PRC, which is situated in the 90000-acre Ol Pejeta conservancy. Ol Pejeta is the largest sanctuary in East Africa for the endangered Black Rhino and also houses a chimpanzee sanctuary. PRC contained 9 guest tents, and because there were hardly any other guests, the manager was nice enough to put us in a larger family tent. Our favorite thing about PRC was the photographic hide (blind) overlooking a watering hole in front of the mess area. 

The photographic hide was a metal cargo container that had been fitted out with a countertop
and stools for viewing. This was our view one morning after a herd of elephants came by the
watering hole to drink.

Porini Mara Camp, Ol Kinyei Conservancy, Sept. 11-14: A flight from Ol Pejeta took us back to the west of Kenya and the Maasai Mara ecosystem. The Maasai Mara is renowned for the Great Migration, when over a million wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of zebras and gazelles move from Tanzania into the Maasai Mara and cross the Mara River. September is theoretically part of the Great Migration season, and we'd hoped to see it during our trip; however, rain patterns in mid-summer caused most of the activity to be completed by July. No disappointment with PMC; it was an intimate camp with just 6 tents. 

A typical tent interior.

Porini Lion Camp, Olare Motorogi Conservancy, Sept. 14-16: PLC was within driving distance of PMC, but was closer to the entry to the Maasai Mara Reserve. We spent one morning in the reserve and were amazed by the huge, open expanses of grassland. There were several other safari camps fairly close to PLC, so our game drives in the conservancy were a bit more crowded than what we had gotten used to at the other camps.

Just a portion (maybe a third?) of the safari vehicles in the Maasai Mara Reserve that were waiting to see what would happen to the Thompson gazelle that was being stalked by a cheetah. The
cheetah finally made its move and exploded from the grass, but it was just a little too far from the gazelle, who managed to outrun the cheetah. 

What was common to all the camps was a wake-up service at 5:45 or 6 a.m., with delivery to the tent of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate, and a pitcher of warm water for face washing (there was no plumbed hot water at any of the camps). The morning game drives in open-sided vehicles with a guide and spotter (one of whom doubled as the driver) started at 6:15 or 6:30 a.m., and a stop for a "bush breakfast" was made around 8:30 or 9. 

The schedule was not one that would be beloved by people who like to "sleep in." We saw a
lot of sunrises during the trip. Sunrise in Ol Kinyei (top), Olare Motorogi (bottom left), and
Selenkay (bottom right).

Joshua (left) and Stanley (right) setting up a bush breakfast
in the Ol Kinyei Conservancy during a morning game drive.

We would return to camp between 11 a.m. and noon for a 1 p.m. lunch and R&R until 4 or 4:30 p.m. when we'd leave for an afternoon game drive. Between 6 and 6:30 p.m. we would stop somewhere scenic for "sundowners", i.e., Happy Hour in the bush. Back to camp by 7 p.m., we would order hot water for the gravity-fed shower, spend some time by the campfire, and then have dinner at 8 p.m. We were usually in our tent by 9 p.m. It would have been nice just to laze around the tent, but the evenings were just too cool to be comfortable doing so. This was especially true in the higher altitude of the Porini Rhino Camp. It may have been equatorial Africa, but it got cold. We were incredibly grateful for the multiple covers on the bed, and the hot water bottles that made their way into our bed each night. The exterior window flaps on the tent were dropped down over the screens for the night, and after dark we were always escorted to and from the tent by a member of staff due to the possibility of animals wandering through the camp. Depending on the camp and the night, there were lions or elephants or cape buffalo or hippos wandering near our tent.

There were some extra activities that had nothing to do with game drives. When staying at Porini Amboseli Camp, we made a visit to a Maasai village near to the camp. We tried to look at it in the spirit in which we believe it was offered, as a way to become more familiar with the Maasai way of life. The modern-day challenge has been to find a way to enable the cattle and sheep of the semi-nomadic Maasai to co-exist with the wild animals of Africa. The approach to conservancies and Maasai employment in the camps has been a way of addressing this.

Many of the villagers turned out to sing for us. There were also jumping demos, showing
us how fires are traditionally started, and one of the women showed how they make
beaded objects. At lower left, a Maasai house made in part with cow dung--we were invited
inside and it was very dark and very compact. Lower right, Maasai villages as seen from the
air. For protection of the livestock, the houses occupy the outer ring, and the livestock
pens are in the center.

We also had the chance to take a couple of "bush walks" in order to see some things that we wouldn't normally be able to see from the vehicles. We did this from Porini Amboseli Camp as well as Porini Mara Camp. In both cases, a watchful eye had to be kept for dangerous animals. Safety is to be found by being in a vehicle, as most animals have become accustomed to them and don't perceive them as a threat. A human being freely walking about is an entirely different matter.

At Ol Kinyei Conservancy/Porini Mara Camp, our walk was accompanied by one of 
the conservancy rangers, armed with a gun.

When all is said and done, though, the trip was about the animals, and on that score we were not disappointed. The guide/spotter pairs we had at each camp were phenomenal, with a wealth of knowledge about where various animals could be found and about the animals and birds themselves.

Clockwise from upper left: Julius and John at Porini Lion Camp; Frank and Edison at
Porini Amboseli Camp; Kevin and John at Porini Rhino Camp; and Stanley and Joshua
at Porini Mara Camp.

Most people who go on an African safari hope to see the "Big Five" game animals. The term derives from big game hunters and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot: lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and cape buffalo. Thankfully, most of those who use the term these days are only interested in shooting these animals photographically. By the time we left Porini Amboseli Camp we had seen all except the leopard, and that lack was remedied during an exciting afternoon game drive during our time in the Mara ecosystem.

We saw lions in all the conservancies and parks/reserves we visited. At lower left, a male
lion takes possession of a warthog killed by one of the females. We were glad not to have
seen the actual event, although a couple who were also staying in the Porini Mara Camp saw
 it happen and were pretty shook up by it. Mr. Lion was not in a mood to share with
his hungry cubs.
 

Upper: the leopard in Ol Kinyei Conservency was nice enough to be fully visible.
Lower: the leopard in Olare Motorogi had a full stomach from killing a warthog
(the remains of which were on another branch) and stayed mostly hidden in the tree.
 

Top: a white rhino (left) and a black rhino (right). Differences are overall size, mouth configuration,
and temperament. The naming convention has nothing to do with skin color.
Lower: white rhinos. Not native to Kenya, they were brought in starting in the 1960's as part of
a conservation effort.

The elephant at left is Michael, one of the "super tuskers" of the Amboseli National Park, so 
called because of the enormous size of his tusks. He was "looking for love" and not in a good mood.

Cape buffalo are considered to be extremely dangerous because of their
unpredictable temperament and tendency to charge when feeling threatened.
Top: evidence of the buffalo's love of rolling in the mud as a way of
 dealing with skin parasites. Bottom: The herd has an albino calf.

"Big Five" notwithstanding, there were so many other animals to observe.

Cheetahs

Loved the giraffes. They are so graceful when they walk. At left is a "Reticulated Giraffe", 
found only in the northern part of Kenya. At upper right is a Massai Giraffe, which we saw
in the Amboseli and Mara ecosystems. The most obvious difference is in the pattern of their coat.

Hippos do most of their activities in the water. They may seem docile, but they kill more people in Africa each year (around 500) than lions and elephants combined, as they can be aggressively fast
 and they have VERY big teeth.

Lots of zebras and wildebeest. They had no problem hanging out together, but also
sometimes traveled only with their own kind.

Left: baboons were commonly seen.
Right: Many of the camps had vervet monkeys, and it was emphasized to us to keep the zippers
of our tents closed to keep them out. The naughty monkey at right "flashed" us as we were
leaving Porini Mara Camp. 

Most of the hyenas we saw were of the spotted variety, but we did see one of the relatively
rare striped hyenas (upper right) in Ol Pejeta Conservancy. At left and lower right, we were
shown a hyena den that had several curious pups.

Male ostriches have black feathers and the females have brown. The 
neck and legs of the male in the top photo are pink, indicating that
he is "ready for love."

Warthogs/pumbaa are part of the "Ugly Five", but we thought they were
really funny and endearing creatures. The youngster in the lower photo
 entertained us with his "zoomies" as we watched from the photographic
hide at Porini Rhino Camp.

So many different kinds of gazelles or deer-like creatures.

And an additional two barely scratches the surface.

Jackels are scavengers and mate for life.

Crocodile at the Mara River. When the wildebeest are crossing, crocodiles are ready to
take advantage of a ready meal.

Upper: a bush hyrax that hung out at Porini Mara Camp.
Lower: lizard or amphibian? The only thing I know is that it's colorful.

And then, there are the birds. Each of the camps had a checklist of mammals and birds so that we could keep track of what we'd seen. The list of birds had 150 names, but that was in no way complete. So, I simply print a few photos of some of the beauties we saw, but make no attempt to identify them.

One interesting thing: for all the precautions that we took to avoid getting sick from mosquitos--yellow fever vaccine, malaria pills (which we're still taking), and spraying our clothes with a nasty insecticide--we didn't see a single mosquito when we were in Africa. But if we hadn't done all those things, Murphy's Law would no doubt have kicked in and we'd have been swarmed.

What better way to end the post than with a bit of African humor:

A beautiful sunset that puts a herd of wildebeest into stark relief:

And a memory of our last breakfast in Kenya, on the porch at Porini Lion Camp overlooking the bush:

We are now one week away from departing Toul. Apparently, our replacement bow thruster has arrived, and it might get installed next week. The yard is busy with winterizing boats, so we shall see. At any rate, we have only a few projects to finish up before our September 27 departure to Paris. We will spend two nights as guests of our friend Jonathan aboard the barge Aleau in Port de Arsenal, one night at an airport hotel, and then we return to Tampa/St. Petersburg on September 30.

Small, But Mighty

(Originally intended for publication on August 30, 2025)

Leaving the Netherlands on Friday, August 22, almost made our heads spin, so short was the time spent in the country. Still, our overall "vacation" away from CARIB was only six days, and we wanted to get to Luxembourg City in order to have at least 2 full days to explore a place we'd not been before. The drive was pretty easy, and we timed it so that we were able to stop for lunch in the town of Maasbracht, where we'd stayed with CARIB in 2021-22 for some work in the Tinnemann's shipyard. We noticed a few changes, but most things seemed the same.

Waiting for our food at what used to be our favorite soup
and sandwich cafe. Although under new ownership, both
were still good.

Luxembourg, or to use the more formal term, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is not often on the travel radar of tourists in Europe, at least as compared to its larger and more well-known neighbors Germany, Belgium, and France. We'd first started thinking about visiting Luxembourg several years ago, when some fellow musicians at a chamber music festival I was participating in mentioned how much they loved Luxembourg City and that they had visited it several times. Given that our cruising grounds this year are very close to Luxembourg--Toul is only 75 miles south--it only made sense to us to make sure that our driving route to (or from) SAIL Amsterdam 2025 included Luxembourg City.

Luxembourg is a constitutional monarchy with a Grand Duke as its Head of State, making it the world's only Grand Duchy still existing as a sovereign state. The founding date of the country is considered to be 963 AD, when Sigefroid (Siegfried), Count of Ardennes, worked a deal with the Abbey of Saint-Maximin in Trier (a city in present-day Germany) to take possession of a rocky promontory that held the ruins of an ancient castle from the Roman era and overlooked the Alzette River. Luxembourg's small size and strategic centralized location made it fair game over the centuries for all kinds of political intrigue, and it found itself at various times under the rule of Spain, the Hapsburgs of Austria, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Prussia/Germany. It wasn't until 1890 that Luxembourg truly became an independent nation. A probable result of all this changing of allegiances is that Luxembourg is left with 3 official languages: Luxembourgish is THE official language, but French and German are both official administrative languages.

Today's Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is one of the smallest countries in Europe, with a total population of under 700,000; the population of the capitol, Luxembourg City, is less than 150,000. Its land area is smaller than the U.S. state of Rhode Island, nevertheless, Luxembourg was at one time the 7th largest steel producer in the world. These days, the world of finance has replaced heavy industry. Luxembourg was a founding member of the EU, a founding member of NATO, and as the location for several EU institutions--including the Court of Justice of the European Union--Luxembourg City is considered to be one of the three capitols of the European Union (along with Brussels, Belgium and Strasbourg, France).

The hotel we found for our stay was within easy walking distance of the city center and its UNESCO listed sites. Had we stayed further out it still would have been a breeze getting around, as the public busses and trams were free.

Parking in the hotel was an unusual event. To get to a space on 
level -3 we had drive the car into this elevator for the ride down.
An interesting experience.

Tired from driving, we stayed around the hotel on Friday evening, but had busy days on Saturday and Sunday. It was too grey and cool on Saturday to feel much like August, but it didn't keep us from enjoying the city. The first part of the day was spent getting a quick overview of the city, and the afternoon saw us delving more specifically into a walking tour of the old town and the fortifications. 

The view from Place de la Constitution over the Petrusse Valley.
 

View from the Saint-Esprit Plateau of the upper town (Ville Haute)
and the lower town (Grund district).

The view from the Chemin de la Corniche, sometimes referred to as
"the most beautiful balcony of Europe." Openings in the Bock Casements
can be seen in the rock wall at upper left. At right, buildings of the
former Neumunster Abbey. The waterway is the Alzette River.

Upper: the Grand Ducal Palace. The part of the building in the 
righthand portion of the photo is that of the Chamber of Deputies, Luxembourg's
parliament. Lower: Place Guillaume II. The statue is that of former
Grand Duke William II ("Guillaume" in French). 

Shopping, shopping, shopping in the pedestrian zone. Above, a craft
and miscellaneous market in one of the city's main squares, the 
Place d'Armes. Below, one of several "regular" shopping streets. Lots
of cafes and restaurants, too. We found the restaurants to be on the 
expensive side, but that's probably just a function of their location
in a city within a country with a high per capita income.

In the Pfaffenthal district, the home of craftsmen and artisans in the Middle Ages. At left, the 
"panoramic elevator" makes the 60-meter height between the lower town and the upper town 
easy to manage. At right, a part of Pfaffenthal can be seen from the elevator cab, but the formerly
clear floor shows scuffing from years of contact with shoes.

Street-level Pfaffenthal and one of its two 17th C.
Vauban Towers and gate.

A view toward the Ville Haute (to the left), the casemate fortifications in the limestone plateau
(left-center) and the modern European district (high rises upper right) as taken from the old
fortifications on the Grund side of the Alzette River.

Upper: a playground tucked next to an old defensive bridge called
 "Maierchen", and a railway viaduct.
Lower: part of the city's defensive ring. The 15th century Dinselpuert is
at the far left. The drawbridge and moat are long gone.

Walking through the Grund district, the presence
 of the fortifications and city on the limestone  
 promontory above Grund are obvious.
At right, a building shows flood levels from
1756 (the upper mark) and 1806 (lower).
 

    

I'm sure that, even if my maiden name weren't Clausen, this "lower" 
neighborhood of Luxembourg would have been my favorite. Clausen is
one of the oldest neighborhoods in Luxembourg City, with a history
that goes back to the breweries of the 12th C. As a center for restaurants
and nightlife, the sleepy appearance of midday gives way to livelier
evenings. The "Rives de Clausen" is the entertainment quarter built
on the old Mousel Brewery sites. I was told that the meaning of Clausen
 the district has nothing to do with Danish names (unlike Clausen
 in my family context).

The city occasionally installed these striped squares with
circular cut outs to frame--I guess--nice views.

Top left: front entrance to the Cathedral Notre-Dame de Luxembourg.
Contstruction started in 1613.
Top right: cathedral interior.
Bottom: the crypt contains the remains of the Grand Dukes and Grand
Duchesses of Luxembourg.

Upper: remains of fortifications in City Park Edouard Andre made into an
 art installation with white concentric curves.
Lower: the kids in Luxembourg have some amazing playground equipment!

A building tunnel in the old fish market area led through
 a Renaissance courtyard to the street fronting the ducal
 palace. The shame of it was that the courtyard was neglected
 and smelled as though people had been living there.

We took a break from ancient history on Sunday morning to visit a site of more modern vintage. Luxembourg was very close to the fighting in WWII's "Battle of the Bulge", the last major German offensive on the western front. The attempt in the winter of 1944/45 to overwhelm and split the Allied forces ultimately failed, but it ended up being the bloodiest battle for U.S. forces during WWII. For much of the Battle of the Bulge, Luxembourg was the headquarters of General George Patton from which he directed the operations of the 3rd Army. Post-war, a temporary military burial site was established just outside of Luxembourg City, and this was later established as the Luxembourg American Cemetery. It was to the cemetery that we drove on a beautiful, sunny August 24.

This is one of 26 American military cemeteries around the world
managed by the American Battle Monuments Commission.

Left: Lon about to enter the non-denominational Memorial Chapel.
Right: the ceiling mosaic, the altar. The stained-glass window
contains insignia of the five major U.S. commands that operated
in the region.

There are 5,076 service members buried in the cemetery. This includes 2 Medal of Honor
winners; one woman, an Army nurse; and 22 sets of brothers. The cemetery also contains a
"Wall of the Missing" with nearly 400 names.

General George S. Patton is buried in the cemetery. On December 9, 1945, Patton was severely
injured in a car crash in Germany and died 12 days later. He wished to be buried with his 
soldiers at the Luxembourg American Cemetery. Originally buried in the middle of a plot among
his troops, the number of visitors to his grave resulted in damage to the cemetery grounds, so
his grave was ultimately moved to the front of the grave plots.

The cemetery is just across a road from Luxembourg's airport. The
airport is a big cargo hub, which is probably why we saw so many
747s landing.

Not far from the American cemetery was the Sandweiler German War Cemetery. It contains the graves of nearly 11,000 German servicemen from the Battle of the Bulge. Over half had been buried by the American war graves service during the war, and over 5,000 were gathered from 150 different cemeteries in Luxembourg and brought to Sandweiler. 

The WWII cemeteries look just like the German WWI cemeteries. Each stone marked a 
grave of 4 persons, most with names, but some listed as unknown. Several of the markers had a
candle, or, as in the photo to the right, a wreath, which seemed to have been done to call attention
to the very youngest of the soldiers. Erwin Thalau was only 16 years old.

The large cross marked the location of a communal grave. Initially, 
most of the bodies had not been identified, but ultimately enough
research was done to be able to identify and list (on tablets
encircling the cross) the names of over 4,000 of the soldiers.

Our tourist activity of the afternoon was to go underground at the Bock Casemates, another UNESCO world heritage site. The casemates are an extensive underground military defense system. The first casemates were built by the Spanish in 1644, enlarged by Vauban 40 years later, and again by the Austrians in the 18th century. Ultimately, the site contained 23 kilometers of galleries and tunnels extending over several stories to a depth of 40 meters. During the World Wars of the 20th century they had the capacity to serve as a shelter for up to 35,000 people. What is open to the public is just a small part of the system that existed. The Petrusse valley on the opposite side of town also has a casemate system.

At the antechamber to the Casemates is the archeological
 crypt, which shows the vestiges of the first count's castle,
erected in the 10th C. and uncovered in 1993.

There was a variety of sizes and shapes of rooms and passageways.

And, of course, there were stairs . . . and more stairs.

There were lots of places to get an overview of the city--which
was obviously one of the purposes of building the casemates.

Sticking your head out one of the wall openings gained you a pretty 
impressive view along the wall, and of the lower and upper towns. The
vineyard below means wine is in someone's future.

We had dinner out and a final stroll through town. We got on the road by 8 a.m. on Monday, August 25, and had the car returned to Nancy by half past 9. Even with a bit of a wait for a train, we were still back at the Toul rail station by 11. I've mostly been concentrating on writing but have managed to do a few things to prepare for our upcoming Africa trip. 

Before we left for the Netherlands, we gave the go-ahead for a complete bow thruster unit to be ordered. The latest word as of yesterday is that there is a 15-day delay in shipping it. At this point it hardly matters, as TSMI's plan is to have the work completed sometime over the winter, and not before we head back to Florida at the end of September. We always worry a little about the "out of sight, out of mind" effect when it comes to contractors and work, but it should only be a one or two day project to get the new unit installed, so I guess we just have to have a little faith about something that is mostly out of our control.