Our last day we didn’t have a planned whale swim, since when we booked the trip we thought we would want some variety. So instead we booked a day of sport fishing. Tonga is world famous for its sport fish – particularly Marlin, yellow-fin tuna, sailfish, and giant trevally. We got picked up by our captain … More Tonga part 3: my big fish must be somewhere
After I got unharnessed (a lengthy procedure) I walked back into the building. A crowd of Japanese tourists who had seen the jump from the top noticed me entering and burst into applause… … More Macau and a first class birthday
A day that began by combining two days of hiking into one morning ended with a grueling 8 hour rally across some of the most scenic countryside in the world. … More Ladakh: Rally to Tso Moriri and other high altitude lakes
Each day, we learned what the plan was for the next day – we didn’t know it in advance. So after climbing two reasonably tall passes, Stok La and Madok La, we were confronted with what Tsering (our guide) promised to be our hardest day yet: two consecutive mountain passes reaching our highest altitude of … More Ladakh part 3: Let them eat cake
It was on Madok La that the cumulative time at elevation began to affect me (Jesse), which led to poor sleep and appetite … More Ladakh part 2: Thin Air and Brown Water
On arrival, we hired a car. The driver spoke no English and would pull over randomly to smoke. Nevertheless we layed our lives in his nictotine stained hands as we drove to Agra and the Taj Mahal. … More The Taj Mahal and a little bit of Delhi
After a successful wild animal photoshoot behind us (catch up with Serengeti safari posts one, two, and three), we headed south to the Ngorongoro conservation area. Ngorongoro means “hole” in the Masai language, which refers to an incredibly large crater (caldera actually). Surrounding the crater is protected land for the Masai people. The Masai can also … More Ngorongoro and the Masai
And then it happened. As we were spotting crocs in the river, a smaller herd (a few hundred) approached the river bank. Unaware or unfazed by their ill-fated brethren, they mustered their collective courage and then charged into the river … More Serengeti: The Crossing
Since we finished Kilimanjaro early, we had a free day for licking our wounds, taking extended showers, and celebrating. So we invited our guide, Mathayo, out on the town. We headed out to Mkulima (farmer in Swahili), a nyama choma joint. Nyama choma is the tradional BBQ of East Africa, with a typical menu offering whole … More Celebratory sustenance in Moshi
When we envisioned climbing Kilimanjaro, we pictured manageable hikes gaining modest elevation on non-technical slopes surrounded by beautiful views, like from the Shira Plateau, Barranco, and Barafu (don’t forget to read these parts). That all was reasonably accurate until the moment we were awoken at midnight to start our summit attempt, in the dark, up scree, … More Kilimanjaro finale: Uhuru
round the world in sixty days 