I am touched by this beautiful world and our exploration of it this past 7 months. As our friend expressed in one of our blogs, the universe is treating us with kindness. We had reports of other people who went on safari and whose experience was marred by the behaviour of one of their group members and/or the group dynamics. We were so lucky with our safari-mates: Jim, myself, Jackie and Irina - a compatible group who collectively valued sustained time observing...

Two weeks of 'Hokey Pokey', ‘Head & Shoulders, Knees and Toes’, ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’ and various other shena****ns with 2.5-6 year olds was plenty for me! Much to my surprise, my 2-week volunteer placement was at the Best Center for the Blind (BCB) working in the mornings at the ‘nursery’ (preschool) with the children (with sight) of blind parents and then providing basic health education for the parents in the afternoon...

Well, with Jim taking so many photographs in Laos (over 2000!) and then needing to process them, we have got behind in our postings. Unfortunately this corresponds to us arriving in Tanzania to daily, and sometimes day-long, power outages and limited access to the Internet. We just wanted you to know that our posting will be sporadic over the next while. Here is our tentative itinerary: Mar 1-16 - volunteering in Arusha Mar 16-22 - safari in Tanzania & trave...

After 18 hours of travel, from Bangkok through Dubai to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania then a short, small-plane journey to the island of Zanzibar, we were ready to rest. Stone Town is a unique spot, introducing us to African culture with strong Arabic,Indian, and European influences. Needing a short nap, I laid down while Jim went out to explore the town coming across groups of highly athletic children playing soccer, volleyball and doing gymnastics in the late after...