Kayaking in a Green Texas Paradise

Saturday we joined some Austin friends in kayaking on the San Marcos river in central Texas. We had not been on this river in 20 or so years, and it is still one of the greenest and most beautiful that we have seen anywhere in the world.

The huge Ameican Bald Cypress trees seem as big as redwoods, and the other exotic plant life along the river really are beautiful.

We saw lots of turtles sunning on logs and rocks, raptors and herons.
Beautiful mild weather, great day all around!

For more pictures and stories, see our travel journal at www.traveljournals.net/rmalone

Guarding the Wild Earth: Valles Caldera National Preserve

Laura was a history teacher, and she can quote you chapter and verse on how the mainly European immigrants to the United States of America have cut down, destroyed, murdered and eaten a huge percentage of the native fauna and flora .

There are those who would save the last, almost wild places, restore them to wilderness, save the few animals and plants in a habitat almost free from humans so that they can survive for us to enjoy.

One such organization is WildEarth Guardians . We discovered them here in New Mexico when we moved to Santa Fe and were looking for volunteer opportunities. We were already members and contributors to National Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club among others, because of our extreme love for wildlife.

However, WildEarth Guardians was more regional, and offered volunteer opportunities that got us out in nature with hands on projects.

This weekend, we attended their Gala and learned of their 20 year history and accomplishments, as well as a future vision and challenges. We closed the party down and danced late, as usual.

Saturday morning we traveled up into the Jemez Mountains to Valles Caldera National Preserve, one of the newest and most challenged. At a purchase price of $200 million dollars, you know this is a special place.

We had driven past this over the years in both summer and winter, when it was still a 94,000 or so acre private ranch. Earlier, it had been a Spanish Land Grant. Even earlier, native Americans were the only humans there, and they still hold the area as sacred ground, though they get permits to take Golden Eagles for ceremonies to this day!

Over the years, whenever we stopped for a quick photo of the "private land." We were always awed by the magic of the huge strange grass valley amongst the high ponderosa pine forests of mountainous northern New Mexico.

Little did we know that it was part of a huge, ancient, volcanic caldera. We were sooooo elated to find that it had been bought and was now a National Preserve.

All is not well in paradise, however. Even with the huge amount of public funds expended, $200 million, many compromises were made. Hunting is still allowed, cattle grazing for almost no cost is still allowed, and worst of all, it is almost not possible for the public owners, we taxpayers, to explore the area unguided unless you are a paid hunter or cattle grazer or on a guided van tour!


A couple of weeks ago we had attended a presentation on Valles Caldera National Preserve sponsored by the Audobon Society in Santa Fe, and learned of the rare flora and fauna in this island in the sky amidst the desert terrain of New Mexico.

Currently the Preserve is managed by a board of directors who have worked to come up with a use plan that would employ Americans and others in the area and expand access. However, the board is rotated out very often, and has accomplish little other than a visitor center, roads, elk hunt, and guided van tours. We signed a petition to change the current management from political appointees to the National Park Service.

This weekend, WildEarth Guardians afforded a rare volunteer opportunity to remove cattle fences that elk had been being caught and injured by. We were also able to experience one of the world's most special places. Here in this ancient caldera, which has swallowed volcanoes and is now habitat for elk, bear, wild turkey, and more, still, cattle, not to mention many rare plants and surprising birds and other animals not usually found at this altitude, in this island in the sky.

We have added more pictures and information about our experience Valles Caldera National Preserve in New Mexico in our pages at http://www.traveljournals.net/stories/30506.html . Give us a couple of days.....


By the way, we have now had over one million, three hundred fifty thousand hits on that site! Thank you, all our friends, family, and Google visitors!

New Mexico Hiking Adventure

New Mexico describes itself as the Land Of Enchantment, and recently we once again learned why.

Wanting to explore more of New Mexico and meet new people, we chose one of the hikes on the calendar of the Northern New Mexico Sierra Club.



As it turns out, this hike was a couple of days after Laura's birthday. She decided she wanted to have dinner in Taos, so we fired up teh Global Warmer II and headed north from Santa Fe to Taos.

We love to hang out in the historic Taos Old Town area! We always have a great time dancing at the Alley Cantina and riding our bikes.


The hike was so amazing, down 1000 feet into the canyon of the Rio Grande River. Boy, were we sore the next day.

For more about our hike to the United States Bureau of Land Management's Wild Rivers outside Taos,

visit our pages here:

http://www.traveljournals.net/travelers/rmalone/journals/3615/

Destination: Santa Fe, NM and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

Hello from Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, which is celebrating its 400th year as a capital in the United States.

Confused, did not think the US was that old as a country? Well you are right! Santa Fe claims to be the first North American capital for Spain. This history is viewed somewhat differently from the perspective of the pueblo native americans, some continuously inhabited for hundreds of years.

(BTW, it is our understanding that these people have never been placed on reservations, and still have some political autonomy from the USA!)

So, we are back home in the US, resting, regrouping, riding and kayaking.

We are also doing some volunteerservice work for environmental/wildlife causes and political activism in the area of healthcare reform and ending occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sorry for being gone from this blog for so long.

For the time being, we are reverting back to traveljournals.net because it is so much simpler to use.

Love to hear from you !

Click here http://www.traveljournals.net/travelers/rmalone/journals/3615/

to view Recent posts, which include:

Frankie Flats, Biking and Bike Repairs in Santa Fe

2009-08-26


32

Lions right outside the gate! More Skukuza Camp game drive pics


skukuza


2009-08-01


19

A Magic Last Leopard, After Being Surrounded by Elephants!


Kruger


2009-07-31


65

Bushlife Xperiences Owners Know how to have fun in Africa!


Skukuza


2009-07-30


15

Game Drives from Lower Sabie


Lower Sabie


2009-07-29


118

Beautiful Lower Sabie Camp, now with Internet by Afriweb


Lower Sabie


2009-07-28


14

Vicious Lovers: Lions at Dusk, Mating, Then Stalking Off For Their Nightly Hunt / Pretoriuskop Camp


Lower Sabie


2009-07-27


74

Internet in Kruger Park, with Hyenas, Bats and much more: Skukuza Rest Camp


Skukuza


2009-07-26


14

Africa Mystique: Skull and Bones Hanging From a Tree


Satara Rest Camp


2009-07-25


36

Death of a Chameleon


Satara Rest Camp


2009-07-24


7

Unbelieveable, we see another leopard in a tree, this one MUCH closer!!


Satara Rest Camp


2009-07-23


39

Tiny Scops Owl and Honeybadger in Daylight, and other Satara Camp area wildlife


Satara Rest Camp


2009-07-22


74

Part II of a View to A Kill: Male Lion Attacks Young Males, Rips Face Off Prey


Satara Rest Camp


2009-07-21


94

A View to A Kill: Lion cubs, and other tales of Kruger primitive road, Satara 100


Satara Rest Camp


2009-07-20


36

Whte Rhinoceros grazing, come up close to us AND Lions try to attack Buffalo in early morning


Satara Rest Camp


2009-07-19


46

The Magic of Africa, Seeing our First Leopard in a Tree is Like A Dream Come True


Letaba Rest Camp


2009-07-18


77

Shingwedzi from Letaba game drives


Letaba Rest Camp


2009-07-17


61

Fast Internet in Africa: Outside Phalaborwa Gate


Phalaborwa


2009-07-16


6

Kangaroo in Africa? First out of the gate at 6am, last in at 5:30, and times in between


Kruger National Park


2009-07-15


46

Oliphants Camp : Gorgeous views of Kruger:


Kruger National Park


2009-07-14


41

Baby elephant falls, helped up, runs like crazy !

Photographic Safari: Self Drive Tips for Capturing the Big Five

There are pros and cons for paying to go on safari or do your own self drive. When you go on a paid safari, you have the advantage of a trained spotter usually and you don't have to worry about watching the road as you ride along; they are doing that (you hope!) You are also in a vehicle that sits high off the ground and so sometimes you can see things people in a regular passenger car cannot.



This being said, the freedom of a self drive is immense. When you find something, you can sit and watch to your heart's content. If if it something of everyone's interest like a lion for instance, my advice is to turn your vehicle so no one can block your view! If you in a busy park like Kruger during the school holidays there are pluses and minuses. One advantage of going at this time of year is that there are more eyes out spotting the game, though it can get quite hectic when one of the Big Five is spotted. People can get a little crazy so you have to assert yourself and hold your ground. This is one big advantage of a small car: you can quickly zip into a space or move around some big clunky 4 x 4's as needed.

When out driving, and you see a car stopped, backing up etc., slow down and start segmenting the viewing field and looking for it. We were able to spot a leopard in a tree by slowing down, stop, go forward six feet, look around, go forward six more feet and so on. It allows both the driver and passenger to look for what has been spotted.

We also if possible, see which direction the people are looking so we can both be looking in that direction. Before setting out on a game drive, it is advisable to look at the sightings board, and if you can talk to others at the board to see what and where they have seen anything. We go a cheetah report from a man who had seen two cheetah that very morning. We went out looking but were not successful. We did the game drive at about 10-15 km where the cheetah had been spotted which did allow for both of us to be looking.


Another tip is to not just look on the ground; look in the trees especially ones that look like a likely place to find a leopard. Look ahead, something could be crossing the road--the elephants can just suddenly appear on the side of the road. Lions seem to enjoy lying around and if you are lucky it is on the side of the road!

Vultures circling usually indicate a kill somewhere and you can try to follow their path or if they are in a tree, look around so see if you can find something nearby. Prey animals like the impala are worth watching if you see them "alert." They may be sensing one of their predators is in the area and may show themselves!

For more of our pictures of Lions Mating, see
Vicious Lovers: Lions at Dusk, Mating, Then Stalking Off For Their Nightly Hunt at http://www.traveljournals.net/stories/30097.html

Story of Lion's fighting at a Kill, More

Note: More pictures of these events are posted at www.traveljournals.net/rmalone

--------------------------------------------

Our idea of Adventure Travel is probably tamer than many, but we are having a very exciting time!

Sunrise of our first morning drive from Satara we found lions down, interested in a herd of buffalo who were approaching them. Were we to witness another "Battle at Kruger", made famous on youtube ?


As it turns out, they stopped short of each other but what they did do was very interesting.

(we have tried twice to load a video, will try again when we get to the US 0

After one of the female lions chased off the buffalo, she joined the male and another lion in moving off a short distance to rest.

Then, from stage right, a line of buffalo returned led very strongly by the big bull with his head out and sniffing. When the line of buffalo were almost to the lions, the bull rared around and reversed course, with his herd soon running in reverse in front of him.

So interesting to get to witness this! We are so thankful!




Lion Cubs at a Kill
Over the next several days we were to witness lion behavior around a kill very up close and personal. For more stories and pictures about what was a very unique experience for us, please go to http://www.traveljournals.net/travelers/rmalone/journals/3615/ .

Wild Card and Internet Access in Kruger National Park

Fast Internet in Africa:

We discovered from Letaba Rest Camp Reception in central Kruger National Park that there was internet access in Kruger these days, but only to the south in Skukuza Camp next to the restuarant.

It was much closer to take a "game drive" back out to the town of Phalaborwa when we needed the internet, provided we allowed enough time to make it back before the gate closed.

Phalaborwa, is a mining town and one of the cleanest most modern towns we have found in Africa.

The tourist information office near the gate directed us to the Pick and Pay Shopping Mall accross the street from Woolworths in Phalaborwa. Inside the mall was a very up to date internet shop which rented pretty fast computers and access, but no wi fi.



Wild Card !

The South Africa National Parks International Wild Card (annual national park pass) has been quite useful to us: we bought our Wild Card park pass at Sure Travel Phalaborwa office inside the mall. We bought a couples pass, and it paid for itself in about a week at current exchange rates.

Malaria Test

Robert also got a malaria test at the National Laboratory in Phalborwa and found it was a bacterial infection.

Safari Supplies at Pick and Pay, Woolworths, Spar

We got some comfort food and supplies not found in the surprisingly very good rest camp stores within the park; and used the internet to upload pictures to our pages at www.traveljournals.net/rmalone, and our to this blog, www.malonetravels2.blogspot.com.

Camping outside the Park Gate

Two years ago we were traveling with Jerry and Nadxi, and we spent the night in our tents at a nice backpackers called Elephant Walk. This time we drove straight on into Letaba camp, but when we came back for a day on the internet we spent a night in Phalaborwa with in the Forever Resorts Safari Park which is just outside the Phalaborwa Gate to Kruger. It was more of a camping experience than staying at the backpackers, with warthogs running around when we arrived and strange calls in the night. The camp was newer and less worn than the older camps inside the park, but it did not have electric hotplates to cook on like you find in the large rest camps inside the park. The "Safari Park" did have a luxury showers and "scullery" for washing dishes and getting instant hot water, but no park store or restuarant.