Around the world with National Geographic

We started the day with a tour of some spots in Marrakech:  the Majorelle Garden (Jardin Majorelle) and the Museum of Berber Arts. Then we went to the old town (medina).  At first it looked like it might have been gentrified, but a short walk in and it was a bustling market place of vendors of all sorts of stuff. I had been looking for a caftan since the mid-1980s (after watching the movie Fletch) and figured Marrakech would be a good place to look for one.  We found a shop selling several different types and picked a linen caftan for 700 MAD (Morracan Dirhams) (which should be about $70).  It’s actually a caftan with a hood, which is called a Dejellama. Then we walked back to the hotel. Once you got out of the rabbit maze of alleys and shops of the medina, you could look for the minaret tower which is right across the street from the hotel.   After lunch, we went back out to the markets to find a caftan (or Djellaba) for Linda. We found her a heavier weight caftan, in dark purple, and

 In the morning, before heading back to the airport, we took a side trip to Little Petra.  Apparently when the inhabitants of Petra moved to this area from further South, they first set up at Little Petra.  Then after a bit they moved down to Petra.  So Little Petra has a similar feel to Petra, but on a more limited scale. There is an outer rock temple/tomb. And then a slot canyon, the Syk. But the Syk here at Little Petra is (a) much shorter, much more narrow, and mostly straight.  The guide said it started as an earthquake crack, but they hand chiseled it to be wide enough and mostly straight. Then once you get past the Syk, there are rock carved structures which look a lot like those in Petra. But then after is side trip, it’s back on the bus for the two hour ride to the airport.  Immigration and security (3 times!).  Back on the plane for a 6 hour flight, and then landing at Marrakech airport. The hotel here in Marrakech (the La Mamounia) is a massive sprawling compound.  Our room

 We are in Petra, Jordan.  Specifically to see the Petra rock carvings. We have all day to do that, so we take our time and start over at 8AM. The first thing you see, after crossing the street, and passing by the Museum and the visitor center and all the little shops, is the Djinn Blocks. These are simple enough — just rectangular solid blocks.  And you start to see holes “caves” carved into the stone. But even that is still pretty simple.  Then you turn the corner and see the Obilisk Temple. And that is just in a different class altogether. But you continue walking to the Syk.  And that is pretty special. The Syk is a slot canyon — a really tall, really narrow canyon.  The guide said it was the result of a crack in the rocks due to an earthquake that cracked and separated the walls, but it could also just be the result of erosion in my mind.  Apparently we have similar things in Zion National Park, and maybe the Arches. (Add a trip to those to to my To Do list.) And it goes on for a

 Another day of basically just flying, or at least traveling. We started the day at the lodge on the crater at Ngorongoro.  A one and a half to two hour drive back to the air strip.  It turns out that the pot holes in the dirt road jostle the Range Rover in such a way that my Apple Watch thinks I’m exercising.  I closed my exercise ring before we got to the air strip. Then back on the regional turbo-prop plane and back to Kilimanjaro airport. Followed by going thru security, then passport control, security and security again to get back on our NatGeo plane for a 5 and a half hour flight to Aqaba, Jordan.   We basically flew straight up until we got to Luxor in Egypt, the turned towards the left and went across the Red Sea and up the Gulf of Aqaba to Jordan.  Unfortunately, yet again, the airport is considered a military airfield and so no photos are allowed. Then we got on a Greyhound bus type bus and drove North for another two hours to our hotel (Movenpick Resort Petra) in Wadi Musa.

 We have come to Tanzania to see the Ngorongoro crater, and arrived last night.  The crater itself is a caldera — a volcano that blew it self up and then collapsed on itself.  Like Crater Lake in Oregon, or the volcano we saw on Easter Island. But this crater is huge. There is a lake inside the crater (probably more than one) and although you cannot see it from up on the rim, the crater floor is teeming with wildlife. But before we get to that, last night we had a talk by Louise Leakey about the work of her grandfather and then her father and mother in excavating fossils from nearby Olduvai Gorge. And then she stayed over at the lodge and this morning led a group to Olduvai Gorge.   We went with her.  She is a fascinating person who knows an enormous amount about fossils and such.  She explained the various layers in the Gorge which are separated by layers of volcanic ash — which is very important.  You cannot date the fossils themselves.  But the layers of ash have properties that all

Today was basically pure travel.  We got up at 4:30 AM in Agra, looking out our hotel room windows at the Taj Mahal in moonlight.  After breakfast, we took a bus to the airport and flew out of the Agra airport (still a military base, so no pictures!) for Kilimanjaro airport in Tanzania.  Once we got to Kilimanjaro airport, we went thru immigration and security and then walked out of the international airport side and over to the domestic airport side, went thru security two more times and then got on a  “regional airplane” — a DHC-8 35-seat turbo prop.  Then a short flight to the Manyara air strip (Note that they don’t even call it an airport, it’s just an air strip.) There we loaded into a set of Range Rovers (some would hold 4 passengers, some 6), each with a combination driver/guide, for a one hour plus drive to our hotel, Ngorongoro Crater Lodge.