Ol Donyo Lodge

We came to Kenya for the first time (on 12th trip to Africa) to see super tuskers and to stay at Ol Donyo Lodge. The Lodge is located in southeast Kenya in the Chyulu Hills between Tsavo and Amboseli National Parks. The lodge was originally established in 1980’s , and has been owned and operated by Great Plains Conservation since 2008. The property is leased from the local Masai tribe. The lodge is both contemporary and traditional, and is quite luxurious. The views are outstanding, and include the surrounding Chyulu Hills, volcanic forests, the Kenyan savannah and, on a clear day, Mt. Kilamanjaro. And below, always wildlife!

Super tuskers are an endangered species of bull elephants living primarily in the Tsavo and Amboseli ecosystems. By definition these magnificent beasts have at least one tusk weighing more than 100 pounds, often drooping almost to ground level. Most are more than 40 years, as these large tusks take years to grow. It is estimated that less than 30 exist today. Needless to say they are the goal of poachers; a considerable effort to protect them was initiated several years ago in Kenya.

So we stayed there and we saw a super tusker and several who might become super. We arrived at a nearby air strip after a one hour flight from Nairobi. Our guide Dan loaded us into a safari vehicle and we headed across the open savannah, up a dirt road through fairly dense trees and to the lodge entrance.

The lodge has eight “rooms” – really sizeable casitas each with a large king bedroom, a huge bath with shower and tub, lots of open deck space, a pool, and star deck above and magnificent views.

The main lodge has multiple rooms including the main area with a huge deck with fire-pit, a full bar and lounging areas. There are multiple smaller rooms using for dining; we ate dinner in several different areas including a well stocked wine cellar. A great feature, accessed by a fairly long stair/walkway combination, were dual hides for watching game at a private waterhole.

The structure is wonderful. But it is surpassed by the people, the service, the food, the ambiance. We are especially grateful for the manager’s hospitality, Stella was a lovely and gracious hostess. And Carol, dear Carol, looked after us for every meal – three times a day we sat and enjoyed her Caring service.

A Day in Nairobi

We decided to start out annual trip to Botswana with a stay at Ol Donyo Lodge (Great Plains Conservation) in Kenya. So we spent two nights in Nairobi to rest up after the trip from Austin. This provided an opportunity to check out a few things in Nairobi, and we had an enjoyable day with these activities. This blog post will cover the stops we made.

Giraffe Center

The Giraffe Center is the creation of the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife (A.F.E.W. Kenya), a non-profit. Its purpose is to primarily educate youth on their country’s wildlife.The Giraffe Center was begun to reverse the sad plight of the Rothschild giraffe, a subspecies found only in the grasslands of East Africa. At the time only about 130 of these were left. A.F.E.W. established several other sites in Kenya, and today there are 300 Rothschild giraffes safe and breeding well in various Kenyan national parks. The center in Nairobi currently has about 17 giraffes.

Kazuri Beads

Our next stop was a bead manufacturing and sales center. We were able to watch dozens of local women fabricating, coloring and polishing jewelry beads, as well as assembling into necklaces in many cases.

Matbronze Wildlife Art

Time for lunch! Our guide Joseph stopped at a bronze art venture complete with a charming restaurant in the gardens. There were numerous pieces of bronze castings posing as elephants and other wildlife arrayed around the property. The owner apparently developed the expertise on using the lost wax casting process to produce very realistic artistic castings of wildlife. In addition the art shop displayed paintings of wildlife as well. The foundry was located on site.

Karen Blixen Museum

For you fans of the movie “Out of Africa” starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, there is a museum featuring the actual farmhouse and some of the property that Karen Blixen referred to when she said “I once had a farm in Africa”. One can wander through her house – with a guide of course – and see much of the art and furniture that she lived among during her days in Nairobi. No pictures allowed. Quite interesting.

Dominio de Cair

We asked our booking agent to recommend a good winery to stop at on our drive from San Sebastian to Madrid. She booked a tasting and light lunch at Dominio de Cair in Ribera del Duero wine country. The Ribera del Duero is a wine region (DO) in north central Spain, located on a plateau along the Duero River. The region is a major player in the international wine scene. The wines are high quality full bodied reds mainly from the tempranillo grape.

Dominio de Cair is a modern facility and very impressive. Noemi showed us through the entire facility, where we met the owner and second generation, Juan Luis Canas. The winery was established in 2008 when the original founder acquired the property containing old vines dating back more than 100 years. We followed the tour with a lovely tasting of 4-5 red wines and a special white, along with a very nice light lunch. Our favorites were the Tierra de Cair, produced in some volume, and the Cruz del Pendon (called the King). We each ordered one case.

Dominio de Cair

Botin

Casa Botin, founded in 1725, is the oldest restaurant in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records and one of the best traditional cuisine in Madrid. Its two specialties are the delicious suckling pig and lamb roasted in the Castilian style. The Restaurant consists of four floors, and efforts have been made to preserve the inn-like atmosphere. Located in the heart of Madrid de los Austrias, Botin enjoys a privileged setting. Over the years successive renovations have been carried out, always without altering the buildings characteristic appearance.

We enjoyed a lengthy tour of the whole restaurant, including the duty wine cellar, and then sat down and enjoyed the suckling pig. I enjoyed the whole experience again as Mary and I ate here back in 1999. Botin is located adjacent to Plaza Major so is easy to find. Well worth the experience.

Basque France

During our stay in San Sebastian, we spent most of a day with Eli visiting the Basque area of southeast France. This included Biarritz and St-Jean-de-Luz.Biarritz is a glitzy resort town steeped in the belle epoque, where the French Basques put on the ritz. In the 19th century this simple whaling harbor became a high class magnet dubbed “the beach of kings.” Its lively pedestrian streets are lined with restaurants, cafes and high-class resorty window shopping. Perched over a popular surfing beach, anchored by grand hotels and casinos, hemmed in by jagged and picturesque rocky islets at either end, and watched over by a lighthouse, Biarritz is a striking beach resort.

As part of our tour, we wandered around a pretty amazing market with all sorts of food goods from breads to cheeses to meats to veggies to seafood. Here are some images.

Next we drove along the water a few miles to the quaint town of St.-Jean-de-Luz. This is a charming little center, port and beach town that provides the most enjoyable dose of Basque culture. the old city lies between the train tracks, the Novelle river and the Atlantic. it has one main walking street lined with shops. The main sight worth entering is the church (Eglise St.Jean-Baptiste) where Louis IV and Marie-Therese tied the royal knot. facing the main square is the house where Louis lived for 4o days in 1660.

San Sebastian

This scenic city provides a pleasant introduction to Spain’s Basque Country. It is considered the culinary capital of Spain. It has long been a favorite of the elite as a seaside resort. By the turn of the 20th century, San Sebastian was the toast of the belle epoque, and a leading resort for Europe’s beautiful people.

Shimmering above the breathtaking Concha Bay, the city has a favored location with golden beaches, capped by twin peaks at either end, and with a cute little island in the center. A delightful beachfront promenade runs the length of the bay, with a charismatic Old Town at one end and a smart shopping district in the center. A soaring statue of Christ gazes over the city, giving San Sebastian a mini Rio aura.

We enjoyed a lovely location at Lasala Plaza in the Old Town overlooking the bay and adjacent to the nighttime bustle. The promenade was right in front of us, with the inner harbor full of boats and the aquarium at the end.

The aquarium (aovarivm) was quite interesting, containing a fairly large exhibit area featuring shipping history, and an enormous tank filling three stories filled with sealife.

After our stroll and the aquarium, we settled into our seats at La Rampa Jatetxa for a seafood lunch including mussels, shrimp, fish and anchovies, all with bread and wine.

The Old Town is fun to stroll around during the day, filled with all hinds of interesting shops and narrow streets. This is where San Sebastian was born about 1000 years ago. The grid plan of streets hides heavy Baroque and Gothic churches, surprise plazas and fun little shops. Independence Square used to be the site in town for bull fights. Apartment dwellers had to allow ticket holders to occupy their balconies on such occasions. Old Town comes alive at night; the town highlight is an array of lively tapas bars – here called pintxos (peen-chos).

In the evening we toured the Old Town, visiting several pintxo bars. As the time grew later the streets and bars grew more lively.

Madrid

We finished our trip with two days in Madrid. While there are tons of things to see, do and eat in this great city, we focused on visiting the Prado – one of the great museums of the world, eating at the world’s oldest restaurant and learning how to make paella the classic way. In this blog there are a collection of images shot during these days, except for Botin, a subject of the next posting.

Prado

The Prado is officially the Museo National del Prado, the main Spanish national art museum. It houses collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century, and has the single best collection of Spanish art. There re numerous works by Francisco Goya as well as Hieronymus Bosch, El Greco, Peter Paul Rubens, Titian and Diego Velasquez. The collection comprises around 8200 drawings, 7000 paintings, 4800 prints and 1000 sculptures.

Cooking Paella

Madrid Images

Bilbao

We arrived in Bilbao mid-day. Unfortunately the Guggenheim museum, world renowned, was closed that day. Bur we found a little cafe in the old town for lunch before we met our guide Xavier.

We then met our guide Xavier, who took us on a tour of the old town.

After a brief van tour along the river, sights including the Guggenheim, we headed off to San Sebastian.

Burgos

On our way from Leon to Bilbao, we made a stop in Burgos to see the cathedral. Burgos boasts one of the masterpieces of Spanish Gothic, its Cathedral, declared a World Heritage Site. The French Gothic Cathedral of St. Mary, has three main doorways which are flanked by ornamental bell towers. Inside is the Chapel of Candestable, decorated with figures of saints and the tomb of El Cid (Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar), the 11rth century military commander.

The cathedral is approached via the Arco de Santo Maria, a gateway which once pierced the old city walls and remains a plump and satisfied portal which leads from the river to the old town. The sculptures on the front represent the figures of Carlos V, El Cid and Fernan Gonzalez, the first king of Castile. The cathedral was begun in 1221.