UGANDA 2025: DOHA TO ENTEBBE TO NKIMA FOREST LODGE

 July 18, 2025

On arrival at the Entebbe Airport, we knew immediately we were not in Qatar anymore. We walked down stairs to exit our large jet.

Ella took her first steps on the African continent. (Qatar is considered West Asia.)

Instead of being met by a large golden teddy bear, we were greeted by a gorilla.

The airport bathroom met us giggle . . . 

. . . as did the sign over the baggage claim area:

NEW YORK CITY: NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM THE DONALD JUDD STUDIO AND HOME

 May 2022

Andrew suggested two more places for us to visit while he and Michaela were at work. The first was the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) on Manhattan's Upper West Side across from Central Park. 

The AMNH campus is HUGE. There are 20 interconnected buildings and 2.5 million square feet of space. Obviously, we weren't going to be able to see it all, so we had to be choosy about where to go. On Andrew's recommendation, we headed for a new insect exhibit, the "Insectarium."

This is the "Pollination Portal," which shows how pollination works.

I loved the butterfly displays. We've recently traveled to several tropical areas where the butterflies are much more plentiful than they are in my desert area, and I have become more interested in the many varieties.

The magnifying glass means you can spin the wheel and look at butterflies and bugs up close.

The huge model of multiple combs of a beehive is unique.

COLOMBIA: THESE ARE A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS

 March 14-23, 2023

After many of our trips, starting with some of the trips we took with our kids, we have made a list of all of our favorite experiences and things we want to remember. We decided to do that for this trip. So, in no particular order other than this is the order we came up with them, here are our favorite experiences, places, people, and things from our trip to Colombia.

- Fruit EVERYWHERE! Mangosteen was our favorite, but we also enjoyed granadilla, dragonfruit, lulo, and guanábana.

- Fruit juice of all kinds, but especially the kind mixed with milk (probably sweetened condensed milk).

- And speaking of juice, the raspberry grape juice with dinner in Bogotá was Judy's favorite.

- Cartagena--everything about it. It was our favorite city, and Carolina was our favorite guide.

COLOMBIA: TATAMA NATIONAL NATURAL PARK, PART 2

 Tuesday, March 21, 2023

I got up at 4:30 to shower to be ready for a 5:30 drive to the top of a nearby mountain. Savannah, as always, was ready on time and waiting for us outside her room. We stopped for a few minutes at the moth net to see what was left from the previous night's partiers, then got in a truck that was waiting to take us to the lodge, where we drank some hot chocolate and picked up food for a breakfast that we would eat at the end of our drive.

We only stopped a few times to look at birds on our way up a steep road. It took us two hours to drive about 8 miles, which gives you an idea about the condition of the road, which was built to service a military base at the top. The road would be impassable to most vehicles. It is rocky and uneven. Our driver, Jon, drove very slowly.

From the end of the road, we had a beautiful view of the rugged Tatamá Peak across the way, shimmering in the early morning light. Its summit is 13,500 feet above sea level, and there are several other peaks we could see in the same range that must also be close to that elevation.

The far-left guerrilla group FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolutionarias de Colombia, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) attacked this military outpost in 2000 during a long period of Colombian conflict. Apparently the outpost is there to protect some vital communications towers that link isolated parts of the country. According to an LA Times article, there were 600 FARC rebels who attacked 50 government soldiers at the complex. The government soldiers ultimately prevailed, although there were at least 20 fatalities. The family who runs the Tatamá Eco-lodge told us that they saw soldiers bringing all the bodies down from the mountain.

The road we took ended at a gate that said no photos were to be taken of the military facility, but I figured the tops of the communications towers that peaked out over the heavy vegetation were okay.

The forest service has built a large observation deck at the end of the road. 

COLOMBIA: TINAMU DAY 2

 March 19, 2023

I was up and out by 6:30 AM to see the morning birds with Bob. It was definitely not as impressive as I expected, and the birds we saw were similar to the day before. However, it was nice to be out in the cool morning air appreciating the glorious scenery.

The reserve folks had sprinkled some bird seed along the driveway that attracted dozens of small birds.

Saffron finch