Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
Quick moving Buffalo
I imagine that this is the last thing you would see before getting rammed by a Buffalo.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Other Subalusky Adventures
I figure it's about time for a change of scenery, so I wanted to share another Subalusky adventure with you all. Let's jump for a moment from the grassy savannas of eastern Africa to the rolling desert mountains of Colorado and New Mexico, dotted by beautiful lakes and trout streams to inspire the most tried and true fisherfolk. My parents went out for a 3 week fishing and camping road trip around the 4 corners.
They trout fished...
...the cooked their catch over campfires...
...they visited ancient cave dwellings...
...and just generally had a fabulous time!
My father is a master at writing trip reports, so I thought I would share his report from this adventure with you all here. It's interesing, educational and a lot of fun to read! I'll try to do a better job of emulating him in future postings!
We camped out on seven of the twelve days of the trip, being somewhat tested by the weather. Upon arrival in the West we were informed that this was the time of the “monsoons”, heavy thunderstorms that develop every afternoon and last a few hours. We had rain on every day except two, but the tent and sleeping pads kept us dry as bugs in a rug. Venturing about during the rain had no effect because of our high tech clothes and the close-to-zero humidity air that quickly dried them. Day time temperatures reached into the nineties, with evenings often dropping into the low fifties. We found this remarkable for late July, with evenings sometimes requiring fleece tops and a fire when allowed.
Major towns visited in New Mexico included: Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Taos, and Chama, and in Colorado: Durango, and Pagosa Springs.
Our tour of Mesa Verde National Park was nothing less than “hard to believe.” We were able to walk through the remains of stone dwellings built by the Pueblo Indians during the period 500 to 1200 AD. Much of these structures, made only of stones and mud packing, was still intact and contained wall paintings and blackening of the overheads from the original inhabiting natives’ camp fires. We toured two sets of these ruins with park rangers as guides, and drove on our own to a number of others. There are over 500 of these ruins in the park as well as an estimated 20,000 other archeological sites. Camping in the park, and listening to nightly talks by park rangers as we sipped wine and brandy in the cool evenings lit by a full moon were special treats of the visit. We somewhat surprised the rangers when we asked if we could use our small propane stove at a roadside picnic table. Saying this had never been requested before, they discussed among themselves and then approved. We then commenced to whip up the most aromatic full-blown meal combination of onions, eggs, sausage, and potatoes – just outside the Visitors Center. We pitied those poor devils eating cold sandwiches.
The fishing portion of the mission was well addressed on the following streams:
1. West Fork of the upper San Juan River – this is a small stream carrying only native trout. The stream eventually flows into the Upper San Juan River. Fishing this required camping at the remote “West Fork” campground, about twenty miles back from anywhere, on a very rough dirt road.
2. Upper San Juan River – this is a medium sized stream in Colorado which flows through the Colorado town of Pagosa Springs and has been dammed to form Navaho Lake in New Mexico.
3. William’s Creek and the Piedra River – both of these are remote streams, deep in the mountains, containing only native trout, with no trout stocking. Again we camped in a quite remote state campground.
4. Animus River – a large river that flows through Durango, CO. This river was still extremely high due to an unusually large snow pack in the mountains that was still melting and feeding the
river.
5. The “famous” lower San Juan River – a tailwater fishery in New Mexico that flows out of the dam of Navaho Lake. This stream reportedly carries 20,000 trout per mile of stream and the upper portion is a trophy area requiring essentially all caught trout to be released. The fish are large and well educated from being caught so many times. They are also highly selective in what they eat and will take only extra tiny (size 22 & 24) nymphs. Locals implied we would catch no fish without a guide. They were wrong. We met a really nice guy who was camping alone in the Cottonwood campground where we camped. We had him over one evening for wine. We didn’t purposely try to liquor him up but he ended up giving us some of the secrets of catching these fish. The lower portion of this same river seems and fishes like a different river. It is a stocked fishery that allows the normal limit of five fish. Typically, only the local Indians fish it. We fished both the upper and lower portions of the river. Mother did well enough in both the upper and lower portions of the river to gain the trip name of “San Juanita.”
We caught fish in all waters fished except for the Animus River. Slow fishing here was due primarily to the high water.
The winner of the Trip Trophy is currently in contention. The guide landed, and measured, a 20 inch rainbow, taken from the upper San Juan River at Pagosa Springs, Colorado. San Juanita caught a rainbow estimated to be 20 inches in the challenging trophy section of the lower San Juan River in New Mexico. Because the fish had to be quickly released, the only remaining evidence is a picture taken while the fish was in her landing net. This photo, along with the known dimensions of the net, is currently undergoing a CSI-type analysis to determine the real size of the fish. More to come later.
Other highlights of the trip follow:
· Access to the Cottonwood campground on the San Juan River requires driving over several miles of unmaintained dirt road on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land. At the start of the road is a large sign saying that the road may not be passable following a heavy rain. I had already read a warning about this road on the internet. The night before we were to leave Cottonwood and drive back to Albuquerque to fly home, we had the heaviest downpour of the trip. Other than a sleepless night as we planned our strategy for getting through the mud road and back to civilization, there was no problem. The road wasn’t that bad after all. This was also an interesting campground. We seemed to be two of the very few “whitemen” in the camp. Everyone else was an Indian. But they were remarkably friendly, offering us wood to make a fire, advice, and generally friendly conversation.
· We had several meals of fresh cooked trout. One that consisted of a thirteen inch rainbow over the fire almost fizzled when the nightly rain started. Being hackers, we just stoked the fire and got it hot enough to burn in the rain, cooked the fish, and ate him in the rain. That was at the West Fork Campground.
· The twenty inch rainbow I caught also provided a hard-to-describe meal. We don’t eat that many twenty-inchers. It is an understatement to say there was a lot of meat on that fish. Butter, salt, and pepper were more than enough seasoning.
· Large, fresh steaks charcoal grilled at a campsite made for a pleasant lunch in the Rio Grande National Park. We had purchased a bag of charcoal and some complementary red wine previously with just this intention.
· Mother devastated the fish on the lower part of the San Juan River, using a tiny (size 18) Flashback Pheasant Tail Nymph – that I had tied just for this trip. Most fish here were in the 10 to 12 inch range but she caught one beauty about 14 inches that slipped out of her hands before we could get a picture.
· We saw a lot of snow still in the mountains, at our level, as we crossed the Continental Divide. It is unusual to still have so much snow this late.
· A mountain lion was killed in downtown Durango the day before we arrived there. We had no mountain lion or bear problems, but saw numerous mule deer in the camp at Mesa Verde. The lone gent who gave us the San Juan secrets at Cottonwood campground came under wildlife attack several times. A squirrel chewed a hole in the front of his tent to get to some dry food he had stored in his tent. To exit, the ungrateful little critter chewed a hole in the backside of the tent. The following night, after wine with us, he returned to his tent to find a large raccoon going through some plastic boxes in his tent. He literally kicked the animal out, only to have him return later that night and try to get back in.
· In an attempt to restore the Guide to full capacity, we spent t one night at a motel in Pagosa Springs that had natural mineral water hot springs. As we soaked in them we struck up a conversation with a friendly guy – who turned out to be the mayor – he has been the mayor for thirty years!
Overall it was a highly successful and enjoyable trip. The only things missing were our girls who we thought of frequently.
They trout fished......the cooked their catch over campfires......they visited ancient cave dwellings......and just generally had a fabulous time!My father is a master at writing trip reports, so I thought I would share his report from this adventure with you all here. It's interesing, educational and a lot of fun to read! I'll try to do a better job of emulating him in future postings!NEW MEXICO / COLORADO ADVENTURE --- JULY 2008
The twelve day, 1200 mile trip started in New Mexico, moved into and tracked predominantly in Southwestern Colorado, transited the San Juan National Forest, Carson National forest, and Rio Grande National Forest, and concluded back in New Mexico. Our mission was two fold: to test our flyfishing abilities in various trout waters not yet visited by us, and to tour the Mesa Verde National Park. Challenges beset us at the outset when, two days before the trip, the guide ripped a muscle in his back while loading mulch at the Buck n’ Bird farm, under the direct supervision of his overseer. The injury limited his ability to bend over far enough to enter a tent, thus leading to two additional days in a motel on the front end of the trip. Noteworthy is the point that no fishing time was lost and the injury in no way detracted from his fish-catching or guiding ability.
The twelve day, 1200 mile trip started in New Mexico, moved into and tracked predominantly in Southwestern Colorado, transited the San Juan National Forest, Carson National forest, and Rio Grande National Forest, and concluded back in New Mexico. Our mission was two fold: to test our flyfishing abilities in various trout waters not yet visited by us, and to tour the Mesa Verde National Park. Challenges beset us at the outset when, two days before the trip, the guide ripped a muscle in his back while loading mulch at the Buck n’ Bird farm, under the direct supervision of his overseer. The injury limited his ability to bend over far enough to enter a tent, thus leading to two additional days in a motel on the front end of the trip. Noteworthy is the point that no fishing time was lost and the injury in no way detracted from his fish-catching or guiding ability.
We camped out on seven of the twelve days of the trip, being somewhat tested by the weather. Upon arrival in the West we were informed that this was the time of the “monsoons”, heavy thunderstorms that develop every afternoon and last a few hours. We had rain on every day except two, but the tent and sleeping pads kept us dry as bugs in a rug. Venturing about during the rain had no effect because of our high tech clothes and the close-to-zero humidity air that quickly dried them. Day time temperatures reached into the nineties, with evenings often dropping into the low fifties. We found this remarkable for late July, with evenings sometimes requiring fleece tops and a fire when allowed.
Major towns visited in New Mexico included: Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Taos, and Chama, and in Colorado: Durango, and Pagosa Springs.
Our tour of Mesa Verde National Park was nothing less than “hard to believe.” We were able to walk through the remains of stone dwellings built by the Pueblo Indians during the period 500 to 1200 AD. Much of these structures, made only of stones and mud packing, was still intact and contained wall paintings and blackening of the overheads from the original inhabiting natives’ camp fires. We toured two sets of these ruins with park rangers as guides, and drove on our own to a number of others. There are over 500 of these ruins in the park as well as an estimated 20,000 other archeological sites. Camping in the park, and listening to nightly talks by park rangers as we sipped wine and brandy in the cool evenings lit by a full moon were special treats of the visit. We somewhat surprised the rangers when we asked if we could use our small propane stove at a roadside picnic table. Saying this had never been requested before, they discussed among themselves and then approved. We then commenced to whip up the most aromatic full-blown meal combination of onions, eggs, sausage, and potatoes – just outside the Visitors Center. We pitied those poor devils eating cold sandwiches.
The fishing portion of the mission was well addressed on the following streams:
1. West Fork of the upper San Juan River – this is a small stream carrying only native trout. The stream eventually flows into the Upper San Juan River. Fishing this required camping at the remote “West Fork” campground, about twenty miles back from anywhere, on a very rough dirt road.
2. Upper San Juan River – this is a medium sized stream in Colorado which flows through the Colorado town of Pagosa Springs and has been dammed to form Navaho Lake in New Mexico.
3. William’s Creek and the Piedra River – both of these are remote streams, deep in the mountains, containing only native trout, with no trout stocking. Again we camped in a quite remote state campground.
4. Animus River – a large river that flows through Durango, CO. This river was still extremely high due to an unusually large snow pack in the mountains that was still melting and feeding the
river.
5. The “famous” lower San Juan River – a tailwater fishery in New Mexico that flows out of the dam of Navaho Lake. This stream reportedly carries 20,000 trout per mile of stream and the upper portion is a trophy area requiring essentially all caught trout to be released. The fish are large and well educated from being caught so many times. They are also highly selective in what they eat and will take only extra tiny (size 22 & 24) nymphs. Locals implied we would catch no fish without a guide. They were wrong. We met a really nice guy who was camping alone in the Cottonwood campground where we camped. We had him over one evening for wine. We didn’t purposely try to liquor him up but he ended up giving us some of the secrets of catching these fish. The lower portion of this same river seems and fishes like a different river. It is a stocked fishery that allows the normal limit of five fish. Typically, only the local Indians fish it. We fished both the upper and lower portions of the river. Mother did well enough in both the upper and lower portions of the river to gain the trip name of “San Juanita.”
We caught fish in all waters fished except for the Animus River. Slow fishing here was due primarily to the high water.
The winner of the Trip Trophy is currently in contention. The guide landed, and measured, a 20 inch rainbow, taken from the upper San Juan River at Pagosa Springs, Colorado. San Juanita caught a rainbow estimated to be 20 inches in the challenging trophy section of the lower San Juan River in New Mexico. Because the fish had to be quickly released, the only remaining evidence is a picture taken while the fish was in her landing net. This photo, along with the known dimensions of the net, is currently undergoing a CSI-type analysis to determine the real size of the fish. More to come later.
Other highlights of the trip follow:
· Access to the Cottonwood campground on the San Juan River requires driving over several miles of unmaintained dirt road on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land. At the start of the road is a large sign saying that the road may not be passable following a heavy rain. I had already read a warning about this road on the internet. The night before we were to leave Cottonwood and drive back to Albuquerque to fly home, we had the heaviest downpour of the trip. Other than a sleepless night as we planned our strategy for getting through the mud road and back to civilization, there was no problem. The road wasn’t that bad after all. This was also an interesting campground. We seemed to be two of the very few “whitemen” in the camp. Everyone else was an Indian. But they were remarkably friendly, offering us wood to make a fire, advice, and generally friendly conversation.
· We had several meals of fresh cooked trout. One that consisted of a thirteen inch rainbow over the fire almost fizzled when the nightly rain started. Being hackers, we just stoked the fire and got it hot enough to burn in the rain, cooked the fish, and ate him in the rain. That was at the West Fork Campground.
· The twenty inch rainbow I caught also provided a hard-to-describe meal. We don’t eat that many twenty-inchers. It is an understatement to say there was a lot of meat on that fish. Butter, salt, and pepper were more than enough seasoning.
· Large, fresh steaks charcoal grilled at a campsite made for a pleasant lunch in the Rio Grande National Park. We had purchased a bag of charcoal and some complementary red wine previously with just this intention.
· Mother devastated the fish on the lower part of the San Juan River, using a tiny (size 18) Flashback Pheasant Tail Nymph – that I had tied just for this trip. Most fish here were in the 10 to 12 inch range but she caught one beauty about 14 inches that slipped out of her hands before we could get a picture.
· We saw a lot of snow still in the mountains, at our level, as we crossed the Continental Divide. It is unusual to still have so much snow this late.
· A mountain lion was killed in downtown Durango the day before we arrived there. We had no mountain lion or bear problems, but saw numerous mule deer in the camp at Mesa Verde. The lone gent who gave us the San Juan secrets at Cottonwood campground came under wildlife attack several times. A squirrel chewed a hole in the front of his tent to get to some dry food he had stored in his tent. To exit, the ungrateful little critter chewed a hole in the backside of the tent. The following night, after wine with us, he returned to his tent to find a large raccoon going through some plastic boxes in his tent. He literally kicked the animal out, only to have him return later that night and try to get back in.
· In an attempt to restore the Guide to full capacity, we spent t one night at a motel in Pagosa Springs that had natural mineral water hot springs. As we soaked in them we struck up a conversation with a friendly guy – who turned out to be the mayor – he has been the mayor for thirty years!
Overall it was a highly successful and enjoyable trip. The only things missing were our girls who we thought of frequently.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
A color-blind Starling
Poor bird...he thought he was well hidden in the thick green foliage...if only he could realize that he is actually bright blue with bright yellow eyes.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Our first egg!
Yesterday Chris and I took another big step in our African adventure- we brought 4 hens and 1 rooster home to live with us. And today, we have already starting reaping the rewards! We can't wait to share their pictures and stories with you soon!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
HIPPOS!
Two Hippos engaged in a mating related ritual...as two others watch.
A Hippo with scars. We accidentally startled this guy while looking for a place to get in the water...so he stood up real fast so that we would understand exactly how large he is. Yes Hippo...we understand.
Two Hippos running into the water. They were sunning themselves on the bank but as soon as we showed up, they took off.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Tons of Masai Mara Critter Pictures
We've just got done going through thousands of pictures and ended up posting over 200 of them to the web for your perusal. They are all geo-tagged so you can see exactly where we saw the critter. If you want the original picture (without the geo-tag water mark at the bottom of the picture and original size of about 6 megabytes) just let us know and we'll send it to you.
Wildlife in the Masai Mara
I'll also make a permanent link on the right hand side of the blog so you can go back to this whenever you want. We'll continue to update this as we see more critters in the Masai Mara. ENJOY!
Wildlife in the Masai Mara
I'll also make a permanent link on the right hand side of the blog so you can go back to this whenever you want. We'll continue to update this as we see more critters in the Masai Mara. ENJOY!
Monday, August 18, 2008
An Organic Solution to the Overabundance of Flies
Amanda and I went out hunting yesterday with one of Dexter's buddies. I was holding him on the end of a stick while Amanda took these pictures:
We had the camera set up to take approximately 6 pictures per second during this sequence. Imagine how fast his tongue must be so that we couldn't even catch it fully extended on film!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
The Eland
This is a picture of an Eland, a Thompson's Gazelle and a bird. The Eland is one of the bigger ungulates out on the plains of the Masai Mara. Did you find the bird in the picture? He is on the Eland, nibbling just above the tuft of hair at the base of the Eland's neck.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Dexter, the Side-striped Chameleon
This is Dexter. He is our neighbor. He hangs out in the bushes around our yard. He is always on the look out for crickets, worms and flies. Dexter has a bottomless stomach...I once saw him eat three large flies in a row. He has quite a pretty calm disposition although he has hissed at us occasionally.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Is it Maasai or Masai?
You may have noticed that "Maasai" can be spelled two different ways; "Maasai" or "Masai". Which one is the proper spelling?
I don't know. We are constantly told different viewpoints. You decide....
A google search of "Masai Mara" returns 1,320,000 results. A google search of "Maasai Mara" returns 293,000 results.
There is no wikipedia entry for "Maasai Mara". There IS a wikipedia entry for "Masai Mara".
All the signs into the national reserve are labeled as "Masai Mara".
The definition for "Masai" is; A Nilotic Language.
The definition for "Maasai" is: an indigenous African ethnic group of semi-nomadic people located in Kenya and northern Tanzania.
Generally, the people are known as the "Maasai"....which basically means the group of people that speak the "Maa" language. When referring to anything else....you spell it, "Masai".
I don't know. We are constantly told different viewpoints. You decide....
A google search of "Masai Mara" returns 1,320,000 results. A google search of "Maasai Mara" returns 293,000 results.
There is no wikipedia entry for "Maasai Mara". There IS a wikipedia entry for "Masai Mara".
All the signs into the national reserve are labeled as "Masai Mara".
The definition for "Masai" is; A Nilotic Language.
The definition for "Maasai" is: an indigenous African ethnic group of semi-nomadic people located in Kenya and northern Tanzania.
Generally, the people are known as the "Maasai"....which basically means the group of people that speak the "Maa" language. When referring to anything else....you spell it, "Masai".
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Maasai Mara and Ecotourism.
There were 24 tourist lodges in the Maasai Mara in 1996.
There were 72 tourist lodges in the Maasai Mara in 2002.
Currently, there is only one Gold Eco-rated lodge in the Maasai Mara; Basecamp Maasai Mara.
Get informed here:
http://www.ecotourismkenya.org/
(Eco Tourism Kenya is a group promoting sustainable tourism practices)
http://www.maasaimaracount.org/index.htm
(The Maasai Mara count was an effort to count everything in the Maasai Mara)
There were 72 tourist lodges in the Maasai Mara in 2002.
Currently, there is only one Gold Eco-rated lodge in the Maasai Mara; Basecamp Maasai Mara.
Get informed here:
http://www.ecotourismkenya.org/
(Eco Tourism Kenya is a group promoting sustainable tourism practices)
http://www.maasaimaracount.org/index.htm
(The Maasai Mara count was an effort to count everything in the Maasai Mara)
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The Migration: Pictures from the Frontline
The big thing here is the Migration. Everybody is talking about it. The Migration is extremely important for the economies of Tanzania and Kenya because it brings in tourists who are willing to pay big money to see it. Well, we were at the Mara River a few days ago taking water samples. We were actually out on a rocky little island in the middle of the Mara River when we were treated to one of the big scenes of the Wildebeest Migration: the Wildebeest Crossing of the Mara River.
All the sudden we looked up and saw a large herd of wildebeest massing on the bank of the Mara. We all immediately hunched down and ran from the rocky island to the bank of the river and then up to a ledge where we could watch the crossing. Here are some of the pictures that followed:
We are happy to report that all the wildebeest made it safely across the Mara during that crossing. There were no crocodiles in the area at the time...only hippos...and hippos don't eat wildebeest.
Here is an interesting read on Migrations: Great Migrations Need Protection.
For more information also check out this publication by UNEP: Africa Atlas of our Changing Environment
All the sudden we looked up and saw a large herd of wildebeest massing on the bank of the Mara. We all immediately hunched down and ran from the rocky island to the bank of the river and then up to a ledge where we could watch the crossing. Here are some of the pictures that followed:
We are happy to report that all the wildebeest made it safely across the Mara during that crossing. There were no crocodiles in the area at the time...only hippos...and hippos don't eat wildebeest.
Here is an interesting read on Migrations: Great Migrations Need Protection.
For more information also check out this publication by UNEP: Africa Atlas of our Changing Environment
Monday, August 11, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
A Common Sight....
Here is a common sight....a Maasai woman carrying a large jug of water over a very large distance so that her family has water. Imagine...
Friday, August 8, 2008
At the CARNIVORE.
For a belated birthday dinner in Nairobi, eating all-you-can eat croc, ostrich, goat, beef, pork, and chicken.
Amanda's grand idea.
So, Amanda thinks we should get matching outfits like these...but I don't think we could pull it off. Any thoughts?
Amanda and the Mara
Here she is taking some field notes next to an oxbow on the Mara that we just discovered.
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