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Israel! (11/17-11/19) We visited the ancient mount

Israel! (11/17-11/19) We visited the ancient mountain fortress of the Masada, slept in a Bedouin tent (where Charlie drank 9 cups of tea between dinner and breakfast) hiked the Ein Gedi Oasis with views over the Dead Sea, where we later floated and tried to swim. We finished with a couple of nights at Kibbutz Lotan, where we joined a Shabbat dinner and toured all of the cool eco-friendly projects they employ to work towards sustainability in the middle of a desert.

Happy Thanksgiving from Petra, Jordan! Sad date co

Happy Thanksgiving from Petra, Jordan! Sad date cookies are the closest we got to pie, but pretty decent views at least.

Jerusalem and Tel Aviv! (11/12-11/16) We started i

Jerusalem and Tel Aviv! (11/12-11/16) We started in Tel Aviv and had a relaxed couple of days seeing Black Panther, going to the beach, and eating awesome falafel three times at the same place, but a real highlight for us was Jerusalem. In addition to being an interesting and cosmopolitan city--with great beer and food, an exceptional playground, and an amazing market--the sites in the old city have a unique depth of history. It's not every day you can witness the Western Wall, see the Dome of the Rock, or visit the sites from Jesus's final days. We also loved the friendly people, especially the juice vendor in the Muslim quarter of the old city who gifted us a huge pomegranate because we said we liked them. Even with the much higher prices than most of the places we're visiting, Jerusalem was one of our favorite cities.

Luxor, Egypt! (11/8-11/9) the highlight for me was

Luxor, Egypt! (11/8-11/9) the highlight for me was the sunrise hot air balloon ride ($60 each!) I took with Charlie over the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple, and the Collosei of Memnon. We'd visited each on the ground the prior day, but we had a great view of the whole west bank of the Nile and a new experience too. The Temple of Karnak on the east bank was also magnificent, but we've overloaded to the point where 4,000 year old marvels are sadly less inspiring than they used to be. Which is good timing because we're moving on to Israel tomorrow (11/11, with a long layover in Jordan) after a 10-hour train back to Cairo today. We've really enjoyed our time in Egypt though, with friendly people and excellent food. (Karen will probably have dreams about the "pasta rice", which sounds weird but is delicious.)

Aswan, Egypt! (11/4-11/7) we enjoyed relaxing here

Aswan, Egypt! (11/4-11/7) we enjoyed relaxing here on the west bank of the Nile at our laid back guesthouse with lots of cats and stumbling distance to two excellent Nubian/Jamaican restaurants. Our family was split on whether the the 7 hour round trip drive to Abu Simbel was worth it, but as you can see from the first few pictures, the scale of the work and intricacy of carvings justifies its place as one of the greatest sites in Egypt. We also really enjoyed the 8,000 years of local history explained by the Nubian Museum (with plenty of artifacts from that entire span of time!) as well as the magnificent Philae Temple, dedicated to Isis (the Egyptian deity), which was the last location in Egypt to convert to Christianity during the 6th Century AD, less than two hundred years before Islam swept through the region.

Cairo! (10/31-9/3) The highlights were obviously t

Cairo! (10/31-9/3) The highlights were obviously the Pyramids of Giza, which were definitely worth seeing in person. The great pyramid remained the tallest building in the world for millennia until the Eiffel Tower was built. In addition to the pyramid complex, we enjoyed experiencing Cairo, with Dunkin Donuts, McDonald's, great burgers (not at McDonald's), as well as some excellent local shawarma and koshary. Also $4 haircuts (we were very overdue!), $2 Ubers, and the excellent Egyptian Museum. The traffic here is wild and I hope the video crossing a bridge at night gives a small taste. (Our driver deserved much more than $2!) Finally, glad to be able to at last embody the name of this account with "kids on camels"!

Uganda, Part 3! (10/25-10/30) We got wet, yet agai

Uganda, Part 3! (10/25-10/30) We got wet, yet again, at our lodge at Queen Elizabeth National Park, where we did our final safari of the trip and saw a few lions, water buffalo, and a herd of 60 hippos hanging out in the mud. Later we did a river cruise with more hippos and birds plus a big crocodile we spotted from a distance. Our final three days were at my favorite lodge, Turaco Treetops, overlooking Kibale National Forest. We spotted some monkeys and baboons there, but they were too quick or far away for me to take any good pictures. Even though we visited during the cheaper rainy season (hence our getting wet), Uganda was still our most expensive destination, but I think it was a highlight for all of us with a combination of relaxing lodges, wildlife, and beautiful scenery. It definitely upholds its reputation as the "Pearl of Africa".

Uganda! Part 2 (10/23-10/24) After the better part

Uganda! Part 2 (10/23-10/24) After the better part of a week in Rwanda, we came back and spent three nights at this idyllic resort on the shore of Lake Mutanda. I've already shared about the treacherous drive getting there, but we had plenty of time to relax (and do homework/play Monopoly, paddle a kayak) there too. Karen, C, and I did an early morning birding walk to the top of the adjacent mountain and then tried not to slip and fall as we walked back down the paths the farmers use to tend their hilly fields. Dozens of kids were zooming past us on the way to school, so we had a friendly and inquisitive audience watching our every step. The final picture is of the boys needlessly doubting my ability to drive us away.

Uganda! Part 1 (10/14-10/16) A day in Entebbe outs

Uganda! Part 1 (10/14-10/16) A day in Entebbe outside the capital before driving our rented 20-year-old Land Cruiser over bumpy dirt roads and a decent two-lane one to our lodge outside of Lake Mbara National Park. We were safari-ed out after Kenya, so spent a lot of time enjoying the view (drinking beer in my case) and doing homework. I also booked our Egyptian Airbnbs. Our one activity was a local community walk: it started with some clouds and thunder, but our guide assured Karen that the rain wouldn't come until later. I don't think he realized that Karen is always right. We sheltered from the worst if it inside the house of a local farmer, but you can see from the final picture that we were very wet!

Eating Dunkin Donuts from our balcony in Cairo aft

Eating Dunkin Donuts from our balcony in Cairo after arriving from Uganda yesterday. The boys say they don't taste the same.

Rwanda! (10/17-10/22) We really enjoyed our 5 days

Rwanda! (10/17-10/22) We really enjoyed our 5 days here visiting the capital Kigali and a lakeside lodge near Gisenyi on Lake Kivu, close to the Congolese border. Highlights include friendly people, great food, all the hills and views in Kigali where we visited a memorial and museum about the atrocious 1994 genocide, main highways with more pedestrians and bicycles (carrying improbable things on heads and rear racks) than cars, fun Nigerian tourists we met in Gisenyi, and the Dian Fossey center (focused on gorillas and conservation efforts) near the Ugandan border.

Current view from our lodge at Lake Mutanda, Ugand

Current view from our lodge at Lake Mutanda, Uganda. Not pictured: the road I had to drive in our rented 4x4, which was treacherous, mountainous, and scary as hell. I'd say the view is 80% worth it. (Not excited about the return drive out on the same road in a couple of days )

Final Kenya post! Amboseli National Park and Hell'

Final Kenya post! Amboseli National Park and Hell's Gate National Park (10/11-10/12) We had two longer drives from north of Nairobi to near the Tanzanian border, but I thought it is worth it because we got some incredible views of Mt Kilimanjaro during our safari in Amboseli. We saw a cheetah family from a distance eating their kill under a tree, but our favorite was seeing an enormous crowd of vultures moving in for a meal after a couple hyenas had their fill. Hell's Gate was a pleasant bike ride through another park with no big predators, but we did scare off more hyenas who were munching on a wildebeest as we rode by! (We moved through Kenya very fast, so are currently taking a more relaxed pace through Uganda and Rwanda.)

More Kenya! Lake Nakuru National Park and Lake Nai

More Kenya! Lake Nakuru National Park and Lake Naivasha/Crescent Island Game Sanctuary (10/9-10/10) The highlight was getting within a few feet of a giraffe family while walking on Crescent Island, but it was also great to see a bunch of rhinos after missing them at Maasai Mara. We also loved all the flamingos at Lake Nakuru and seeing all the hippos at Lake Naivasha.

Maasai Mara Reserve, Kenya! (10/7-10/8) Maybe the

Maasai Mara Reserve, Kenya! (10/7-10/8) Maybe the most famous reserve in the world, we were lucky to spend a couple of days here and see a lot of animals! Leopard, lions, buffalos, wildebeest, elephants, warthogs, giraffes, impala, zebras, hyenas, hippos, crocodiles, gazelles, guinea fowl, and more. My animal loving family had a great time. (Charlie did a happy dance every time we spotted a new species of animal.)

After 24 hours in Kenya, what are our favorite ani

After 24 hours in Kenya, what are our favorite animals? This turkey. Also 20 chickens, 5 dogs, and these orioles that live on the farmhouse we're resting at before starting our safari trip tomorrow.

It's our last few hours in Europe for this trip af

It's our last few hours in Europe for this trip after almost 4 months. I wrote a post about it that you can find at the link!

https://kidsoncamels.com/blog/2022/10/04/leaving-europe-almost-four-months-later/

I wrote a post about the great time we have visiti

I wrote a post about the great time we have visiting Zurich, Switzerland via my friend Dom's apartment. Some would argue that Zurich is the best city in the world to live in and I'm sure you can get an inkling of why if you read the post! https://kidsoncamels.com/blog/2022/10/04/the-best-place-to-live-in-the-world/

Crete! (9/29-10/3) We decided to come here because

Crete! (9/29-10/3) We decided to come here because of the half marathon, but it contributed greatly to our assessment that "Greece is great." 5,000 year old Minoan ruins, a cool natural history museum with an illusion section, the awesome party as part of our races (see other post) and the breathtaking Samaria Gorge. Also, we had a nice pool at the Airbnb. Excellent food too. We're taking a ferry back to Athens overnight so we can catch a flight to Nairobi via Istanbul. (Staying at the airport there, as our layover isn't quite long enough to make clearing customs worth doing, so it'll be a lot of travel and waiting before we end up in Kenya at 2:30 in the morning!)

Crete Half Marathon! We're leaving Europe tomorrow

Crete Half Marathon! We're leaving Europe tomorrow, so it was nice to finish with another half after doing one during the first couple of weeks back in June. Hot (mid-80s and sunny) and very hilly (ridiculous climb after four miles and mostly uphill the last four), but I finished. Charlie also did a 5K (even hotter because his started 3 hours later.) James did a 1K, which he "half liked, so he only ran half." Overall, though, it was a great experience--more like a huge party in the center of Crete and 40+ musicians playing mostly traditional music every few blocks of both my run and Charlie's. We've really loved Greece and this was a special send-off.

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