The Big Five

Everyone who goes on safari wants to see the "Big 5"!  We were really lucky in that we saw them all:  elephants, Cape buffalo, leopard, lions and both white and black rhino.

Kruger National Park

From Johannesburg, Sharon, Andrew, Diana, Robert, Nat (Sharon's son) and myself drove north to Hoedspruit, at the foot of the Klein Drakensberg mountains.  We visited Sharon's friends there and then the following day we set off on Safari.

Blue wildebeast

In total we spent around 2 and a half days in Kruger National Park.  We spent 2 nights in lodges in the park itself which meant we could do both sunrise and sunset safaris.  We saw a huge number of animals.

We would stop for breakfast in lunch in various lodge restaurants which mostly had amazing view of the nature and wildlife in the park.

The waterholes were great places to spot wildlife.  Here there is a hyena approaching an impala.

Hippos in the water

 

There were lots of zebras and giraffes - it was great to be so close to them.

 

Impala are known as the McDonalds of the park - everyone snacks on them!

Johannesburg and Learning2

My first visit to South Africa was to the American International School of Johannesburg for Learning2, where I was a Learning2 Leader.  The school is quite a way out of the city.  I stayed in a great hotel and really enjoyed being there - the school campus was really beautiful.  The conference was small and had a really friendly feel.  I am certainly blessed to be able to travel for my job.

A weekend in Varanasi

I made a visit to a school in North India that is going through the process of being authorized as a PYP school, and since I was in the north already Sharon flew up for the weekend and we went to Varanasi.  Varanasi is on the banks of the Ganges and is one of the oldest, continually inhabited cities in the world.  It is the spiritual capital of India.

Varanasi is famous for silk, perfumes and incense and as a place where the Buddha gave his first sermon (at Sarnath).  It's a major centre of pilgrimage, also a place where people bring their dead to be cremated and have their ashes strewn into the river.

We spent much of the first day wandering along the ghats - the steps - where the pilgrims perform their ritual bathing and pujas (prayers).  

Varanasi has at least 84 ghats, most of which are used for bathing by pilgrims and spiritually significant Hindu puja ceremonies in the morning and evening, while a few are used exclusively as Hindu cremation sites.

The Jantar Mantar observatory, constructed in 1737, is located above the ghats along the Ganges, and is adjacent to the Manmandir and Dasaswamedh Ghats.  It has a huge sundial.  We stopped for coffee in a rooftop restaurant right next to this observatory.

The extensive stretches of ghats in Varanasi enhance the riverfront with a multitude of shrines, temples, and palaces built tier on tier above the water's edge.

Other ghats were used as washing ghats (dhobi ghats) and the brightly coloured saris were laid out on the steps to dry.

The first evening and the  following morning we went out on a boat ride to watch the pujas. In the evening a group of priests perform "Agni Pooja" (Sanskrit :"Worship of Fire") as a dedication to Shiva, Ganga, the sun, fire, and the entire universe. In the morning we got up at 4 in order to get to the river while it was still dark.  We were able to take part in the morning puja at sunrise.

The Manikarnika Ghat is the primary site for Hindu cremation in the city. Adjoining the ghat, there are raised platforms that are used for death anniversary rituals.   Fires are kept going day and night as it takes around 3 hours to cremate a body.

Yusmarg

Our final day trip out of Srinagar was to Yusmarg.  We drove through the autumn countryside where people were gathering in the harvest.

Charari Sharief

The only thing to do really in Yusmarg is to walk.  There were a number of walks but we chose to go through a pine forest.  It was beautiful and really deserted.

Gulmarg - the highest gondola in the world

One day we decided to go to Gulmarg.  It's a place where you can go skiing in winter and there is even a gondola that goes right up to the top of the mountain.  At 14,000 feet it's the highest gondola in the world!

The gondola is in 2 stages.  Many people go only up as far as the first stage.  Getting tickets for this gondola was quite a challenge.  There was a queue, but various "guides" kept jumping in at the front of the queue.  As we went up to the top we went right through the clouds.  On the other side there was a bright blue sky.  At the top it was very stony.  You could continue to walk up a bit and from the top you could look over into Pakistan.

People of Kashmir

Local people in Yusmarg

A man and his pony in Gulmarg

A boy in the backwaters of Srinagar

A man and his boat in Srinagar

A local woman washing up in a stream at Gulmarg