Diving in the Red Sea, Egypt

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Diving in the Red Sea, Egypt

As we mentioned in a prior blog post, we spent four days diving in the Red Sea in Egypt! We were scuba certified before the trip and did our Open Water course dives in freezing water in South Africa, so this was our first "real" diving experience.

We loved it! We went with a great company called Aqua Nabq, and had excellent lunches and wonderful, sunny days exploring a bunch of different dive sites. We used our GoPro to take video and pictures. Here's the video, and a few favorite snaps!

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77 Favorite Photos from 6 Months of Travel

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77 Favorite Photos from 6 Months of Travel

As of a few days ago, we’ve been traveling for six months! We looked back over our photos and our travels so far, and decided to post the top photos from every country we have visited so far. We’ve taken 4,059 photos, visited 18 countries, and stayed in 63 different hotels / AirBnbs. These are our favorite 77 photos.

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Valley of the Kings & the Temples of Luxor, Egypt

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Valley of the Kings & the Temples of Luxor, Egypt

Our first day in Luxor we went to the West Bank of the Nile River to see some of the many temples and sights. First, we stopped at the Valley of the Kings, which is a valley where tombs of Pharaohs were cut into the rock. This mainly took place from the 16th to the 11th century BC, which is part of what makes it such an amazing and famous site. 

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Cairo, Camels, and the Pyramids

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Cairo, Camels, and the Pyramids

I’ve been to Egypt once before, in 2013 with my friend Chris Simpson, and absolutely loved it. Seeing the pyramids at Giza and the Valley of the Kings near Luxor is an unforgettable experience. Unfortunately, on that trip we didn’t get to visit Abu Simbel, so Chuck and I decided to visit Egypt on our travels so I could check that off my list, and so he could see Egypt for the first time.

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The Atlas Mountains & Camping in the Sahara Desert

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The Atlas Mountains & Camping in the Sahara Desert

A trip through the Atlas Mountains to spend the night in the Sahara desert is a “must do” for time spent in Marrakesh.  Since we were lazing around, we got around to booking our trip just the day prior to leaving. We woke up at 6:00 for our 7:30 departure time, and were completely unsure of what to expect.

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Sable Sands Safari Lodge & Hwange National Park

/ Sable Sands/
Sable Sands Safari Lodge & Hwange National Park

Spending a few nights at Sable Sands was one of the most special parts of our trip so far. While we really enjoyed our time in Victoria Falls, it was a bit touristy for my taste. We wanted to get out into the bush and away from the people, and Sable Sands provided just that.

Sable Sands is a safari lodge that is comfortable but rustic. Each hut has it's own wood-burning stove outside to serve as a water heater, white mosquito netting draped over the bed, a thatched roof, and a gorgeous view over the watering hole in the wide-open valley. As we arrived, monkeys were tramping around the edge of the hole having a drink before moving on to let the next parade of animals have their turn.

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Chobe National Park - Botswana

/ Chobe National Park/
Chobe National Park - Botswana

One day of our trip in Victoria Falls was spent crossing the border into Botswana to go to Chobe National Park. The first half of the day was spent in an open-air truck (think: typical safari vehicle) and the second half was a water safari in a boat.

We got very lucky and saw lions up close! Almost too close for comfort! Check it out!

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Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe - 1 of the 7 Wonders of the Natural World!

/ Victoria Falls/
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe - 1 of the 7 Wonders of the Natural World!

We left Cape Town on Saturday, May 6th to fly to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, where we decided to do a safari. The Zimbabwe infrastructure isn’t great (for example, ATMs are almost always out of cash), so we elected to go with a pre-built package with all of the cool stuff scheduled in and paid for so we didn’t have to worry or plan as much.

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Cape Point and a Tour of the Townships

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Cape Point and a Tour of the Townships

Sorry for being so behind on this blog, Samantha and I have been super busy these past few weeks, and were mostly out of internet range.  Yesterday we arrived in Istanbul after a long day of travelling, and are really looking forward to this next chapter in the trip.  That being said i wanted to recap our last weeks in Africa.

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Great White Shark Cage Diving in Gansbaai

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Great White Shark Cage Diving in Gansbaai

I'm not really sure what I expected shark cage diving to be like when Chuck booked our excursion in Gansbaai. I wasn't afraid, though my hair stylist in Port Elizabeth spoke at length about how I should be. I suppose I thought it would be a similar experience to the wildlife viewing we'd done so far--sort of a drive by, take a few pictures and leave, kind of thing.

Not exactly.

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Kragga Kamma Game Reserve - Port Elizabeth, South Africa

/ Kragga Kamma Game Park/
Kragga Kamma Game Reserve - Port Elizabeth, South Africa

The day after Addo Elephant Park, we took another recommendation of our wonderful AirBnB hostess and went to Kragga Kamma Game Reserve, just outside of Port Elizabeth. The reserve had a self-drive option that went around the park, with a stop in the middle of the drive at a cafe overlooking the cheetah enclosure. Unlike Addo, predators in this park are kept separate from their prey.

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Addo Elephant Park - Port Elizabeth, South Africa

/ Addo Elephant Park/
Addo Elephant Park - Port Elizabeth, South Africa

One of the absolute coolest things to do in Port Elizabeth is to go to Addo Elephant Park.

Addo is the third biggest national park in South Africa, and was our first chance to see wildlife in a more natural setting. Unlike game reserves, the animals at Addo aren't separated into cages to keep, say, the lions from eating the elephants. Tours were available, but we opted to do a self-drive. At the advice of our AirBnB hosts, we packed a picnic lunch and snacked all day while we drove around for about six hours.

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South Africa Garden Route - Hermanus & Knysna

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South Africa Garden Route - Hermanus & Knysna

It's hard to take a bad photo on South Africa's Garden Route. As our guide at the Villeria game reserve told us, the fynbos biome is one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world. As we drove from Betty's Bay to Hermanus to Cape Agulhas to Knysna, we passed through deserts, jungles, plains, and jagged coastal mountains.

At times, I felt like I was back in Nebraska. We saw some center pivots, and lots of pastures with cattle grazing in them. But then, I'd see a giant ostrich roaming around and snap back to reality.

Hermanus used to be a major fishing village. Now, it's a tourist destination. We spent lots of time hiking along the cliff trails, which was gorgeous. But I have to say, a major highlight for me was watching Out of Africa with Meryl Streep, which was a video option in our AirBnb. As we drove along from Hermanus to Knysna, "I had a farm....in Africa..." kept echoing in my head.

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Cape Town & Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

/ Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden/
Cape Town & Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

Thank goodness Chuck had time to send everyone an update! We've been very busy and are still a bit behind on posting photos and videos, but here are some to start.

As you know, we spent our 10 or so days in Cape Town. Here are just a few snaps from the window of our first AirBnb, as well as a nice day spent in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

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