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Africa 2024
  • Tom Hixson
  • Tom Hixson

Africa 2024

In Search of Gorillas! Read more
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  • Trip start
    September 22, 2024
  • Tom HixsonAfrica 2024Traveler
    1
    1

    Day trip to Elmina and jungle walk!

    September 24, 2024 in Ghana ⋅ ⛅ 75 °F

    Heading out of Accra today to see Elmina Castle, a Portugese fort which was later turned into a slave processing compound. Pictures will be posted later, but in the meantime, note this photo of Pat Nixon and Shirley Temple in Ghana. Pat looks worried.

    Terrified Tom on rope and slat canopy walk 100 feet over jungle floor.    Read more

  • Tom HixsonAfrica 2024Traveler

    Elmina Castle

    Sep 24–27, 2024 in Ghana ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F

    Elmina Castle, built by the Portuguese in 1482 as a fort, was later turned into a holding compound for the slave trade. Very emotional and impactful. The room with a skull over the door was for incorrigible captives who were left to die. The other chamber housed female slaves who were held for weeks or months awaiting ship transport. Much of Werner Herzog's incredible movie "Cobra Verde" was filmed at the castle.Read more

  • Tom HixsonAfrica 2024Traveler
    1T&K at Kakum National Park (Ghana) with tour guide and a traveller from Minnesota

    To Rwanda!

    September 25, 2024 in Ghana ⋅ ☁️ 81 °F

    Leaving Ghana after 3 eventful days. The people here have been so friendly and welcoming, and yesterday's 14-hour journey up the Cape Coast was so remarkable on many levels. Today we will cross the continent to Kigali, Rwanda, where we will rest up before heading to the Volcanoes National Park and our trek to meet up with the Silverback gorillas.Read more

  • Tom HixsonAfrica 2024Traveler

    Kigali

    September 25, 2024 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F

    We arrived in Kigali, Rwanda,last night and spent Thursday resting. Our hotel here, Hotel des Mille Collines, was the site for the movie Hotel Rwanda. Tomorrow we will do a city tour and then visit the genocide monument before heading to Volcanoes National Park where we will stay until Sunday. Our gorilla trek starts Saturday...very exciting!Read more

  • Tom HixsonAfrica 2024Traveler
    Guidance during the purge
    2 of the 5 Volcanoes seen from our deck.

    Genocide Museum and Volcanoes National P

    September 27, 2024 in Rwanda ⋅ ⛅ 84 °F

    Today started with a sobering visit to the Genocide Musem which was built to memorialize over 1 million Rwandans who were brutally executed in 100 days. The museum focuses on the causes, and we learn that genocide is the final stage of a process whenever powerful extremists preach hatred for other races through insane propaganda. Nazi death camps, Sarajevo, and Cambodia all share the same playbook with similar outcomes. This museum stands as a wake-up call for everyone who thinks, "It couldn't happen here."

    On a happier note, our driver Edmond took us to Volcanoes Park and we are now settling into a fantastic lodge, which is near the Ellen Degeneres and Diane Fossey gorilla research complex. Our gorilla trek starts at 6:30 tomorrow am so we're getting quite excited. Expect to see some great pictures tomorrow!    Read more

  • Tom HixsonAfrica 2024Traveler
    3View from our room
    Locals gathering flowers which are processed as insect repellent1Juvenile at playMama and babyDian Fossey's cabin at the Ellen Degeneres gorilla research centerTom and Kevin with our guide Edmond2Kevin and friends

    Gorillas in the Mist

    September 28, 2024 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F

    Wow ! What an experience today! We hiked 2 hours through the forest to see a family of 20 Silverback gorillas. Amazing! Words escape me but maybe the pictures will give some sense of the adventure.

  • Tom HixsonAfrica 2024Traveler

    Back to Kigali

    September 29, 2024 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    Leaving the beautiful Virunga region with its massive volcanos today and heading back to Kigali where we will spend the night before heading to Ethiopia on Monday.

  • Tom HixsonAfrica 2024Traveler

    Back to Kigali

    September 29, 2024 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F

    We had a leisurely 3 hour drive down the mountains today to Kigali and enjoyed seeing all the women (especially) in their colorful gowns and headresses as they walked to church.

    Kigali is a beautiful and modern city which some have called Africa's Switzerland. Gleaming buildings, excellent roads, magnificent landscaping everywhere. Shortly after checking into the elegant Marriott here, a ferocious thunderstorm broke out with rain, thunder and lightning that didn't let up for almost 2 hours. We'll get a good meal tonight and then tomorrow morning head to the airport for our next adventure---Ethiopia, where we shall be for the next week. Stay tuned as we change cultures dramatically!Read more

  • Tom HixsonAfrica 2024Traveler
    This fellow in the Kigali airport is smiling because he won the All African Chess Championship
    1View of Addis Ababa from our room

    It's 2017 Again!

    September 30, 2024 in Ethiopia ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F

    Quite a change in cultures today. We left Kigali and arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, this afternoon and experienced considerable local confusion at the airport. Where's our luggage? Who knows? It finally surfaced, but then they found a pair of binoculars in Kevin's suitcase, a big no no. So he had to wait while 7 people (not counting the lady sleeping at her desk) looked for carbon paper to fill out a receipt for him to pick them up when we leave the country, and on and on. But we're here and just learned that it's now the year 2017, according to the Ethiopian calendar. They have 12 months of 30 days followed by one month with 5 days, and New Year's is September 17th...of course!
    Lovely hotel downtown, and we start our Ethiopian tour tomorrow! Should be interesting so tune in tomorrow.    Read more

  • Tom HixsonAfrica 2024Traveler
    1The Emperor's bed
    These gentleman had bread and muddy homemade beer for the holiday1Locals at churchEthiopian scriptChurch celebration

    Festival Day

    October 1, 2024 in Ethiopia ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F

    Most folks are christian here but 30 percent are Muslim, so we were awakened at 5am with wailing from the mosques.
    Today is the festival of the Virgin so streets were thronged with white robed women and men in their best clothes. Also went to the national museum and learned about Ethiopian Emperor Haille Salassie,a descendent of Israel's King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. He was also connected strangely enough with Jamaica's rastafarians. Lots of interesting info about tribes in the Afar and Harar regions.
    We learned that besides a different calendar, they keep time differently so what is 10 am to us is 4 pm to them. Confused? Just roll with it.
    Tomorrow we fly to Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile. It sounds like there may be wifi lapses there, so if you don't hear from us for a few days, we've been forcibly unplugged!    Read more

  • Tom HixsonAfrica 2024Traveler
    1Lake Tana fisherman in papyrus boat
    St George slaying the dragonEthiopian orthodox priestsTypical monastery paintingsMonastery entrance. Note mud and straw wall constructionTypical monastery construction with ostrich egg cross on topNote ceiling decorationMonastery entrance

    Bahir Dar, Lake Tana Monasteries

    October 2, 2024 in Ethiopia ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F

    After an early morning flight from Addis Ababa, we started our day in Bahir Dar on the banks of Lake Tana and took a lengthy boat ride to various islands, spotting giant white pelicans and fishermen in papyrus canoes along the way.
    There are many small islands in this large lake, most of which house monasteries from the 14th century, and all have colorful religious paintings. They are still in use exactly like they were 700 years ago, each containing a replica of the Ark of the Covenant with Moses' Ten Commandmends tablets. They claim the son of Solomon brought the original from Jerusalem in 900 BC, and it is now in the church at Axum north of here. But no one can see it except one dedicated priest.
    We visited 4 monasteries today, all quite interesting, and tomorrow we drive to Gondar, a four hour journey.    Read more

  • Tom HixsonAfrica 2024Traveler
    Never happier to board a plane!!

    Journey's End

    October 4, 2024 in Ethiopia ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    We woke up bright and early yesterday, excited and ready for our four hour drive to Gonder. But as we discovered, Ethiopia is always full of surprises! The tour company we worked with sent a guide to explain that rebel forces had surrounded our city and the military had sealed off all roads in and out of Bahir Dar. As a result, they arranged for us to fly back to Addis Ababa late that afternoon. This was no overly-cautious response: our hotel was infested with soldiers wielding machine guns, a sight repeated throughout the town and especially at the airport where pandemonium reigned. After battling jostling crowds, and frustrated by a lack of departure signs or announcements and lengthy flight delays, we finally made it back to the safety of Addis Ababa where we are now cooling our heels in the Sheraton.

    We are so sorry we didn't make it to Lalibela, but we are also realistic about the dangers of travel under these circumstances. And so we conclude our fantastic trip to Africa tonight by flying to Frankfurt and then on to San Francisco, arriving Saturday night some two days early. All in all, a very exciting adventure despite a few white knuckle moments!

    Betty Knudsen, our 99 year old friend who still makes trips overseas, always says "Travel as much as you can for as long as you can" which fits neatly under the umbrella of novelist Henry James' advice: "Live life to the fullest; it is a mistake not to."

    Thanks for sticking with us to the end, and we hope everyone enjoyed reading about our journey. In the meantime, safe travels wherever your road leads!

    Tom and Kevin    Read more

    Trip end
    October 8, 2024
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