Adventure Travel Photography Blog
Bowen Lake may be reached from two different trailheads. One trailhead is located in Rocky Mountain National Park and the hike is 16.2 miles. The other trailhead is located in Arapaho National Forest off of County Highway 455. The distance from this location to the lake is a more reasonable 9.3 miles.
HAPPY HIKING!
While I generally travel a lot, in the summer I stick to Colorado for the amazing hiking. As a result, I planned a few days of hiking near Grand Lake and in Rocky Mountain National Park with my friend Tina who drove in from New Mexico. Miraculously, we secured a cabin last minute at the historic Grand Lake Lodge which was perfect.
HAPPY HIKING!
On our third day in the Masai Mara National Reserve, we arose for another sunrise game drive with breakfast scheduled upon our return. Always in need of food, I grabbed a hard-boiled egg for the 2-hour ride which could be longer if we stumbled across something cool.
GO ON SAFARI
On our second day in the Masai Mara, our wake-up call, complete with coffee delivered to our rooms, came early. It was still dark as we walked toward the jeep, thus the night watchman escorted us from our tents. I asked if he saw any wild animals overnight, and he said he chased away some elephants. Hmm, I don’t think I’d like that job. Hey enraged elephant and lurking leopard, shoo! It was hard enough to keep the monkeys from visiting our tents. More on that later.
GO ON SAFARI
So nine years ago, almost to the day, I went on a safari in Tanzania with some friends. It had always been on my bucket list, but I would never sign up to go because I was afraid it wouldn’t meet my expectations if I didn’t see everything I’d hoped to see.
Our trip included driving from Arusha to Tarangire to Manyara to Ngorongoro Crater and to the Serengeti. We literally saw just about all Africa had to offer: A cheetah kill an impala, a lion hunt, the wildebeest cross the river, the big five including the rare black rhino, and even three of the small five (which I didn’t know there was such a thing).
It was such an amazing experience that I have turned down Rootie’s invites to go on safaris ever since as I didn’t think it could be topped. Then I realized, the safari in Tanzania was my all-time favorite trip, so why not go back. And go back I did, this time to the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya with Mike, Rootie, Rozy, Jake, and Martha.
GO ON SAFARI
In a previous post Things to Do in Nairobi, I mentioned the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust whose mission is to promote the conservation, preservation, and protection of wildlife and habitats across Kenya. It is best known for its work with elephants by operating the most successful orphan elephant rescue and rehabilitation program in the world.
The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust houses the orphans at four locations: Nairobi Nursery, Ithumba Reintigration Unit, Voi Reintigration Unit, and Umani Springs Reintigration Unit. It is possible to stay at the units. As such, our group of six; Mike, Rootie, Rozy, Jake, Marty and I rented out Umani Springs for two days.
VISIT ELEPHANTS …
While on safari in Kenya, we took a side trip to Rwanda for two days to see the mountain gorillas. RwandAir offered a 5am departure from the Nairobi to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.
The domestic portion of Nairobi’s airport isn’t anything to write home about. There was a bathroom without toilet paper, one café, and a small waiting area in the terminal. The gate area required extra security, and once inside water and toilets were unavailable.
GO GORILLA TREKKING …Ok…the fog, rough seas and changing ice conditions has again changed our itinerary, so I am going to say we spent the morning motoring in the Hinlopen Straight and eventually disembarked on the zodiacs near Von Otteroya but I’m not 100% positive. This was our first time off the ship in nearly two days!
Of course we enjoyed seeing all the polar bears from the bow, but at the same time we were happy to have an opportunity to cruise the bay…or at least I think. After about an hour of cruising around in miserable conditions, a deep fog and mist in the air, my hands and feet were frozen and I was less than enamored with the kittiwakes, guillemots, and icy coastline. I don’t think I was the only one silently wishing we could go back to the ship.
DISCOVER
Our day started early…just after midnight. The message in Australian accent sounded over the PA system, “I’m sorry to disturb you, but a polar bear is visible to the naked eye around 11 o’clock to the ship.” I don’t think either of us had really gone to sleep. We had only returned to the room in the last hour after watching the bears in the distance. After the announcement, David, told me he wasn’t getting up, however, I got dressed in lightning speed. I was going to see that polar bear!
POLAR BEAR PARADISE