Adventure
(All Adventure Entries)
In an Elephant’s Eye
June 21, 2009 ·
I had been in Sri Lanka for a week, and now a couple of friends and I are passing through the interior of the island-nation the size of West Virginia. The road’s edge is lined with a four-pronged spacey wire fence standing roughly ten feet high, this marks the Minneriya National Park. Then we spot it – a monstrosity of a mammal standing on the other side of the electric fence.
“Tissa [the driver], please stop!” I get out and inch over to the beast in aims to get the best photo possible. I am probably... [Read more]
Birds, Poachers, and Twitchers in Ethiopia
June 17, 2009 ·
Sometimes, it seems like Ethiopia is all lakes, birds, and monasteries. Dirty swimming water and organized religion I can do without, but after seeing a silvery-cheeked hornbill I doubt that I could keep living my life and not become a serious twitcher - a bird-watcher who tries to spot as many rare varieties as possible.
My new found obsession with birds reached its peak when I spotted a man selling lovebirds in a wire cage on the side of the road. These green parakeets are extremely sensitive wild fowl that... [Read more]
Sof Omar, Ethiopia
June 14, 2009 ·
Never go caving with a whiner – he’ll scare off all the bats.
I entered Sof Omar cave with a mandatory guide in tow – a teenager in a leather jacket. As soon as I turned the corner my respectable guide began whining. Was I going to give him a tip? How much? “A tip,” I said, “is determined by how well a job is done,” and he, my guide, is already not doing a very good job. At that he turned away. “You are an evil woman,” I heard him curse. I wouldn’t have gotten... [Read more]
