Moroccan Rugs

Morocco is known for its spectacular carpet souqs and I've definitely taken advantage of them.

I purchased my first rug in Marrakech during October Break with Stephanie, Julie and Johnna. It is a traditional Berber carpet from the Atlas mountains. Unfortunately, after more rug shopping around Morocco, I ended up figuring out that I got ripped off on this one. It is my largest rug and looks great under my coffee table in my living room.

Here's a close up of the intricate pattern. Although there are similar rugs out there, each Berber carpet is quite unique.
While in Marrakech the second time with my parents and sister, I had the great pleasure of rug shopping with my dad. We picked out this High Atlas beauty.
This rug is reversible.

We also bought this runner and buying both allowed us to negotiate a better price.

I love that it matches the tile in my dining room, as well as the blue cushions on my dining room chairs. Note that Berber carpets only have fringe on one side - the starting side doesn't have any.

The latest addition to my Moroccan rug collection was this old rug that I found in Azrou with Mike and Julie. I highly recommend carpet shopping in Azrou over Marrakech - the location is closer to the Berber tribes and tourism isn't as rampant, so starting prices are less than half what they are anywhere else. The people were so friendly and Mike was able to negotiate an awesome price - this was my cheapest rug!

The carpet is over 50 years old - you can tell because of its color. The purple and teal were colors brought to Morocco by the French and since they've gone, this color isn't available to use in new rugs. A picture really doesn't capture the beauty of the deep purple and light teal. You'll have to come visit to see how gorgeous it is!

My Home

One of my favorite things about living in Casablanca - my awesome apartment. Not only is it in a great location and I have awesome neighbors, but I've made it pretty homey.

When you walk in and turn to the right, you face my long, narrow living room. I have filled the school provided wicker shelf with knickknacks and photos that I shipped over from home, as well as a few new additions. The wicker sofa is probably the most uncomfortable sofa I've ever sat on, but I'm planning on replacing that with Krista's couch when she leaves in June. Note that the whole far wall is windows, so there is a ton of natural light when the sun is shining.

My desk is in my living room - no room for it in my bedroom or the guest room. Note my new pretty purple rug - bought in Azrou with Mike and Julie. Blurry pic - sorry.

My bedroom's pretty simple - so much better now that I've traded in the school issued salmon colored sheets for Pat's brown set.

No worries - I'm still representing John Deere in the bathroom. Embroidered toilet paper rocks!

My kitchen is a pretty decent size - gas stove, electric oven. And in this picture it is accented with a Christmas towel, murder mystery novel, and 3 pots of food on the stove. I think I'll keep the Christmas towel up for awhile - very functional. My dining room is the central point that all the other rooms face. Check out the awesome rug I got in Marrakech with my parents and Katie - it matches the chairs and tile perfectly!

Aaaah. The guest room. Amazing. Unfortunately, when I decided to take pictures of my house, Zakia was washing the pretty lavender sheets that normally go on this bed. I'm kind of starting to like the fuzzy leopard print. Come visit me and you can sleep here!

Eating in Marrakech

One of the wonders of Marrakech are the food stalls that pop up each evening in Jemaa al Fna. Every evening at 6:30p.m., the square becomes a flurry of activity as tents are put up to house the 120 or so food stalls. There are boiled snails and sheep brains stands, as well as over 100 stalls serving Moroccan specialties. The food stalls are open from 6:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., 7 days a week, 365 days a year. No vacation time for these guys!

The kitchens are pretty simple and are hidden behind a sheet. Food is prepped ahead of time and displayed for customers to pick their desired meal. On our October trip to Marrakech, we were approached by waiters at many different stalls, but finally ended up at #75, who promised us "wicked awesome food".

After a meal of Moroccan salad, brochettes, and seafood served with bread (to be used as silverware and to hold down the placemat), we were given complimentary mint tea, a Moroccan specialty.
The guys at food stall #75 were pretty awesome, so we took a picture inside their kitchen with them. We had to stand on milk crates and not lean against the stove or barbecue. It was a pretty tight fit. Lots of laughter ensued after our delicious meal. I highly recommend it!

When my parents and Katie came to visit in November, we went to stall #31, which was recommended by Lonely Planet for its awesome spicy sausages - they were very yummy!

Christmas in Kenya

I love Christmas when the sun is shining! Christmas Day in Kenya was wonderful. At our Treetops lunch, this guy was walking around taking pictures with people - not a very traditional Santa, but he brought the Christmas spirit!

The family had a delightful lunch together to celebrate - they gave us poppers with funny paper hats and little trinkets. Good stuff...

The entertainment was fantastic - we got to watch these guys do all sorts of acrobatic tricks. They were amazing!

The sun was shining, we saw amazing animals and we enjoyed each other's company. Although I was missing ice fishing at Georgetown Lake, I certainly can't complain about our wonderful Christmas in Kenya!

Helping Each Other

I love this picture, so I had to give it its own blog post. The buffalo and the egret have a pretty symbiotic relationship. The egret feeds on the ticks and other insects on the buffalo's skin. What a delightful meal - yum! By pecking them right off the buffalo's skin, the egret is saving the buffalo from a whole lot of fly swatting. The buffalo doesn't do much to reciprocate. He just attracts the insects. Works out nice for both of them - isn't helping each other swell?

A Jackal Love Story

Jackals are completely monogamous animals. Once they find their mates, they travel together as a pair for the rest of their lives. Very seldom would more than one pair travel together. The jackal pair establishes itself as the only jackals within a territory. The territory is marked just like any other dog - with feces and urine.
It's a pretty intense kind of love between jackals. When one jackal dies, his/her mate will often commit suicide. The jackal does this in an unusual way, be walking up to a major predator, such as a lion, and becoming its dinner.

While in the Masai Mara, we ran into this guy. He probably had a pretty nasty fight with a hyena and managed to escape without one of his eyes. His lady then walked up to him and they trotted off together. I don't know if they knew that their days were probably pretty limited, as the wounded jackal will attract more hyenas. His lady will then meet her own death. In the meantime, they'll stay completely devoted to each other as they defend their territory. True love is beautiful!

The Big Five and Five More

The Big Five refers to the five most difficult animals to hunt on foot - they were not chosen based on size. The Big Five are the most dangerous mammals. They are the "must-sees" in Africa and thanks to our family's talent for game-spotting, we saw them all. We also saw a bunch of other animals that were pretty amazing. So, I've added five animals to the Big Five, making them the Big Ten - the ten most wonderful animals that we saw in Kenya.

1. Lion

We didn't get a chance to see a lion until our trip to Masai Mara, the last stop before heading back to Nairobi. Once we got to the Masai Mara, we saw lions four different times. We saw this beautiful lioness first, basking in the sun with three others. They weren't bothered at all about the safari vehicles lining up for pictures a few feet away. Other lion spottings included two males travelling together, a mother with a 2 day old cub, and a lioness eating her prey.

2. Leopard

The leopard is a difficult animal to spot, as it likes to stay hidden. Mike spotted this guy on our Treetops game drive from a far distance. We saw another one later on, hanging out by the river.

3. African Elephant

Our family has seen plenty of Asian elephants, but this was our first experience with African elephants. The African elephant is definitely larger than the Asian elephant and we saw massive herds of elephants, as well as smaller families travelling together. They were extremely protective over their babies, keeping them well hidden.

4. Cape Buffalo

The Cape Buffalo was a pretty common sightingon our trip. Like the elephants, they tend to travel in large herds. We watched a herd of them come to the watering hole from our bedroom window at Treetops. The buffalo is probably the most dangerous of African animals, causing the most hunter deaths. Otete explained that most animals have a way of communicating to humans and other animals that they are planning on attacking. The buffalo, however, does not. It attacks unprovoked and without warning.

5. Black Rhinoceros

The Black Rhinoceros is not named after its color. It is actually named the Black Rhino to distinguish it from the White Rhino, which was named because of the width of its mouth. Somewhere along the way, the Afrikaans word for width translated to white. Both the Black Rhino and the White Rhino are grayish in color and have two horns. The difference between them is the width of their mouth. The Black Rhino is very nearly extinct, due to the popularity of the rhino horn for Chinese medicine and Middle Eastern dagger handles. In thirty years, the Black Rhino population decreased from 20,000 to 400. They are now protected in fenced in reserves, so their numbers have slowly climbed up to 500.

6. Giraffe

I think the whole family would agree that the giraffe should be included as it is an incredibly majestic animal. We saw a lot of giraffes along our trip - the most beautiful was the Reticulated Giraffe, found in the Samburu National Reserve. We all took tons of pictures of giraffes along the way and even though this one isn't of Reticulated Giraffes, it's my favorite. Otete informed us that the darker the giraffe is, the older it is. This old guy and baby were beautiful.
7. Cheetah

One of the most remarkable things we saw in Kenya was this cheetah. On our first morning game drive, Otete started getting radio chatter about something exciting. We arrived to find this cheetah stalking a gazelle. Otete moved our van closer to the gazelle, so we got to see the cheetah take off at full speed after it. He didn't catch the gazelle, so he walked back past us. It was mind-blowing!

8. Baboon

This one is Otete's favorite. When asked what he most likes to see on game drives, he replied "I love to see a family of baboons frolicking and playing together." They were pretty fun to watch.

9. Warthog

One of Mum's favorites was the warthog. Pat got pretty close to one when we stopped to look out over a beautiful view. I loved Pumbaa's wispy hairs and adorable little run.

10. Gerenuk

This beautiful herbivore is also called the "Giraffe-necked Antelope". The men have horns and the females do not. They tend to eat in higher to reach places than other antelopes by standing on their hind legs. Interesting fact: these animals do not need to drink - they get enough water from the plants that they eat.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the marvelous animals we saw in Kenya. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few must-sees, but I guess this is a good start. More to come!

Uh-Oh! Van Malfunction!

The safari van is constructed to be a pretty sturdy piece of machinery. It has to be - it spends its days going through the game reserves and on the terrible roads in Kenya. I've never seen so many potholes! So, when one of them caused us to almost flip off the road, we were able to drive on a bit before stopping to fix whatever was dragging underneath the van. When we finally did stop, tons of people who were hanging about came up and offered to help. I was surprised at how many of them fit under the van!

They finally figured out that the tough metal case that protects the oil pan was disconnected and needed to be welded back on. A couple of other safari vehicles that we were travelling with came and picked us up and we crammed in to make it to our hotel on time. Otete took the van into the nearest town and it was fixed by the time we went on our morning game drive.

While we were waiting, we met a man named Jericho, who entertained us with stories of crocodiles and goat herding. We got a little worried when he started pulling out weapons, but then he proceeded to explain their uses. The long stick was for herding the goats. The short stick with lead on one side is used against animals and if you hit the back of a person's neck, it will probably kill them. Then he pulled out the sword and explained it was used for protection against animals, as well, though he seemed to indicate that it could also be used to protect the goats from humans. I wouldn't suggest messing with a goat herder in Kenya - it could be a fatal experience!

The Markovich Pride

Otete shared a great deal of information about lions with us during our Masai Mara trip and being a good reading specialist, I was able to make some lion to self connections. They're a pretty fascinating species. Some things we learned:

A pride of lions consists of a single mature male, a bunch of lionesses and some lion cubs. The Big Papa's job is to protect his pride from predators. If another male comes to challenge him, he must fight to maintain his position in the pride. Lions fight to the death and if a new male comes into the pride, the cubs are all killed, so that he can start his new family. Since a nursing mother cannot get pregnant, he must make sure her cubs are dead before he can start mating with her. Delightful, eh? This lioness was hidden amongst the bushes with her days old cub. We couldn't photograph the beauty of what we saw, but it's certainly a wonderful memory. Kind of reminds me of how protective my mum is over her little cubs!
The lionesses do the hunting. They hunt in the evening and bask in the sun or lay in the shade during the day. The adult male basks in the sun all day as well. He pretty much just waits for his lionesses to bring in the kill and gets first choice on the meat. After his meal, he may go on a walk to get a drink of water. That normally wears him out, so he may just sleep there the rest of the day. The pride we saw was without its adult male - he was probably napping elsewhere. The adult male below was without a pride, most likely hunting with his brother.

Once young males reach maturity, they go off on their own and hunt for themselves until they can take over a pride. These guys were pretty old (judging by the color of their manes), so Otete thought that they were probably brothers who had been kicked out of their pride when they reached maturity and hung out ever since. If we were a family of lions, it would be like kicking Mike and Pat out of the fam and them kickin' it together for the rest of their lives.

The life of a lion doesn't look too bad, does it? They are incredibly lazy animals. Check out this lion we saw - definitely my favorite!

Driving Through the Wilds of Kenya

During our Kenyan safari, we spent a lot of time in this van with our awesome driver, Otete. He was an incredible wealth of knowledge about Kenya and its amazing animals and culture. He was also pretty great at spotting game.

On our morning and evening game drives, we popped up the roof like this and stood up to look for animals. There were tons of other safari vans around and the drivers all communicated by radio. It was pretty exciting when Otete's radio started going off with voices and he drove with purpose - we knew we were going to get to see something wonderful and were not disappointed! Mikey was definitely our best game spotter - his binoculaurs were magical! He and I often stood up front in the van, but I didn't come through with anything but guinea hens and elephants. I didn't inherit my mother's eagle eye like Mike did.

On our Treetops game drive, we saw 2 leopards (spotted by Mike, of course), some hyenas walking down the road, buffalo at close range, and other animals. Pat and Mike were up front, intently searching. Who knew that game spotting would be a completely focused activity for the whole fam?!? It kept us so quiet, we didn't have any chance to argue. :)

Mum, Katie, and I stood in back with the wind whipping through our hair, sometimes looking, sometimes just waiting for the boys to find something!

Once something was spotted, we all stood up, cameras and binos in hand. Mum & Dad took awesome pictures and I took some video with Katie's camera for our "Circle of Life" video. The boys and KateKate looked through the binos. We saw so many wonderful animals!

When we traveled between game reserves, we had some down time in the van, so napping was a common activity. The 6:30 a.m. game drives kind of made naps a necessity!