Ecuador provided a great getaway to experience historic haciendas, beautiful volcanoes with sweeping vistas and natural rain forest jungle in the Amazon Basin. All of this was experienced during a 10 day trip in November 2008.
Our first stop on our Ecuador journey was at a Hacienda near Otavalo, north of Quito. Otavalo is famous for their craft market. It is the largest indigenous market in Ecuador. It takes place in Plaza de Panchos. There are food and animal markets in other parts of the city.
Cotopaxi National Park is 50 miles south of Quito. We stayed at a wonderful hacienda in the area that contains some original Inca empire walls. We also took a day trip into the park and a short hike.
We spent three days hiking and viewing wildlife in the Amazon Basin. Our home base was Sacha Lodge, which is approximately 50 miles downstream from Coca, Ecuador on the Rio Napo (Napo River).
On February 20, 2009, we spoke to a full house at Anaheim Public Library in Anaheim, California. Our presentation covered our recent journey to see the Mountain Gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in Uganda.
At the end of June 2008, we took a two week trip to Uganda, via London, to visit the endangered Mountain Gorillas in the southern part of the country. We visited three national parks in all.
Our first stop in Uganda was Entebbe. We spent two days there acclimating to Africa before beginning our safari. While there, we visited a chimp sanctuary and a botanical garden.
Two days were spent exploring different portions of Uganda’s most popular savanna national park, Queen Elizabeth. We were able to view a variety of animals by the water and in classic African grassland settings.
The highlight of our journey to Uganda was viewing the endangered mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. We had two opportunities to see them and had different experiences both times.
Our final stop and national park experience in Uganda was at Lake Mburo. Here we took a late afternoon walking safari to see the animals in a more intimate setting.
