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Showing posts with the label Tanzania

Talking with Pictures

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It seems that man has always wanted to express himself with drawings.   Early man often used stones to peck on rocks as well as paint to leave his messages.   He recorded ceremonies, hunts, dreams, maps, animals and daily life.   Just to clarify the terms: ‘pictograph’ is anything depicted on a stone surface – carved, pecked or painted. ‘Petroglyph’ is the technical word for anything carved or pecked.   I’ve always been fascinated by pictographs.  And I take photographs of the images whenever I am fortunate to find them. Hopi, Pueblo, Paiute Navajo and Anasazi have left drawings on rocks all over the Southwest.     It is great to live in this area of pictorial wealth!   I just came across William Michael Stokes and William Lee Stokes book “Messages on Stone – Selections of Native Western Rock Art “.   The images are divided into types – Apparel and Adornment, Birds, The Corn Maidens, Design, etc.   Great little book for kids and adults! It is pretty easy to find a real pictograph, matc

Jambo! Welcome to Serengeti

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Welcome to the Serengeti, an area that covers 14,763 square kilometers of Tanzania . Grasslands, rivers, rocky outcrops Birds, animals, reptiles The daily struggle of life and death. People, looking for adventure and a sense of place use land rovers, vans, small aircraft and walking to build their country's infrastucture. Looking out onto the vast expanse of the land with its flat topped acacia forests, comes a feeling of solitude.   Dirt roads wind and cross each other and I know there are others driving in the area but I see no one.   It is quiet and still.  (An excerpt from my handmade book.) The Serengeti was my favorite area in Tanzania.   T he landscape was grassland and dry acacia forest (much like Arizona) with rivers supporting a variety of  wildlife. The birds were breathtaking. (Being a birder I got over 300 new species of birds.)   The exotic animals chose when to let us see them or were in herds.  The people were friendly and colorful and the lodging was delightfu

Travel Journals –Worth Their Weight!

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Good friends called to say they were going to travel to Kenya and Tanzania.   They knew that Peter and I had gone a few years ago and wondered if we had any advice.   Of course we do!   I told them I would look through my journals and send things that might be interesting. What fun I had going through my journals!   We spent 10 days on a tour mostly in Tanzania with http://www.africa-adventure.com/ .   The best part was having our own guide, Firozdin Rafiq . We could stop and take photos and watch wildlife anywhere we wanted and he was extremely knowledgeable about birds to elephants and inbetween.  (He has a fb page).    I think I came home with over 700 really good photos not counting the ones I trashed.   We were interested in everything! Because we were going in a small plane between Kenya and Tanzania, we were allowed a total of 35 pounds each.   That included the camera, lenses, binoculars and clothes.     I came across the list of what I packed in a small suitcase and my backp