Up Close on Safari...

Our safari package included three game drives and two bush walks, where we explored the African bush with a woman who had grown up there. The safari drives were incredible and we saw some amazing wildlife including four of the big five: lions, elephants, water buffalo and even a cheetah, which we were very lucky to spot on our last sunset safari. We also got really close to giraffes on our bush walks, including two baby giraffes which were believed to be twins—apparently a very unusual occurrence. 

Evening game drive drink break 

I loved pretending I was a National Geographic photographer. These lions, a mother and her cub, were less than 15 feet (5 meters) away from me! Although it would have been exciting to witness a kill, we only came upon the remnants. 

She had such gorgeous eyes

We could hear the crunching of the bones while she ate

Mommy and her children

Awesome Safari Lodge...

After having an amazing time in Mozambique, we headed to South Africa. It was a very eventful 17-hour drive, especially crossing the border where they almost didn’t accept the visas of some of the volunteers, including mine.  

Chilling with Charlotte outside our room

When we arrived at our safari lodge long after dark, I was awestruck—it was gorgeous. Set in the middle of a private game reserve near the Kruger National Park, the Ku Sungula Safari Lodge was wonderful. I was even more surprised when we sat down at a long table wrapped around an open fire and served dinner. I felt like I had been brought onto the set of Survivor.

Breakfast and lunch were served at a beautiful table overlooking the watering hole where we could watch monkeys playing and warthogs wandering. 

There were five of us in our traditional rondawel, which was much fancier than I was expecting considering the low price for this optional add-on to my volunteer program.

Picture Perfect Mozambique...

Some of my photographs from beautiful Mozambique...

My good friend Madi out by the beautiful seas

Sunrise from our veranda

Survivor Island

Volunteering at Schools...

Our final week was dedicated to helping out at the local schools. We were meant to do a lot of teaching; however, because it was exam week, we ended up doing more painting than teaching, which I actually enjoyed a lot more than I expected. 

In one of the two schools where we worked, my team painted a world map and flags of the world on the back wall. 

It was incredibly rewarding to see the room go from nothing to something beautiful and even cooler to see a teacher using the world map to teach her class. To see my overview video of my volunteering in Mozambique, click here.

The children loved my camera—look how silly they were! 

The final classroom!

Fisheries Research...

During week two, my team was in charge of the fisheries research. This involved a 40-minute walk to a nearby beach where local fishermen bring up their catches. Each day we lay on the beach in the sun napping, reading and waiting for the fishermen to come back so we could record their catches. This research is an important part of the effort to get the local bay qualified as a marine protected area. 

Most difficult to record were the shark catches, especially when they brought up an infant tiger shark; it wasn’t pleasant to watch, but was quite fascinating. 

The shark fishing locally is fairly sustainable as the whole shark is used, however the fins are sold to Asian markets for use in shark fin soup. To see my short video on the artisanal shark fishing industry in Mozambique, click here.

Diving in Guinjata Bay...

My first week of volunteering involved carrying out coral reef surveys on the local reefs. This involved dropping down on the reef, laying out a transect line and then recording video which we analyzed in the afternoon for species of coral and number of fish. While the analysis was tedious, the dives made up for it. We got pretty quick at doing the surveys, so we had the rest of the dive to just explore the reef. 

That’s me on the left taking images of the quadrant.

My Team: Daisy, Mattie, me and Abbie

My team was incredibly lucky as we got to see not only a manta ray on a dive, but we got to swim with a whale shark. We were all watching a free-swimming eel when I spotted a huge thing swimming slowly behind us out of the blue. My heart stopped for a second before I realized it would not harm us. Despite how slow it appeared to be swimming and how fast we were attempting to swim, we could not keep up with it for long and it was quickly out of sight. Safe to say, we used up our air pretty fast on that dive as we partied underwater after such an amazing experience. 

At least I managed to grab a photo of it before it swam away.

Francesca, one of the founders of Love The Oceans, is really into underwater photography and captured this photo of me filming a shoal of fish.

Mozambique...

Veronica takes over my blog for the next few days...

In late June, I traveled down to Mozambique for four weeks to volunteer at the marine conservation non-profit Love The Oceans. I arrived at the dive center where we were based a few days before the volunteer program started so that I could get my PADI Advanced Open Water dive certification. I was shocked how beautiful it was and even more excited when I saw how dark the sky was. It was honestly breathtaking! We could see the Milky Way from horizon to horizon and I took every chance I had to take photos after dark. 

Early mornings meant that I had the chance to capture some beautiful sunrises, too! Everywhere I looked was postcard perfect. 

The accommodations and meals at Guinjata Dive Centre were wonderful. I never expected to gain weight when traveling to Africa, but then again we did have a personal chef cooking dinner every night and delicious fresh bread for breakfast each morning.

Reflections on our 11th Year - Part 2...

We are happy that once again our list of highs is much longer than our list of lows:

• Family Travel: California/Bay Area - wonderful time staying with Dad and Ann and being spoiled by their incredible hospitality, exploring San Francisco by foot (Veronica and Melissa walked while Jimmy and Ashlynn ran for half marathon distance, hanging with Monique and Sarah, Marine Mammal Center, sleepovers at Leigh and Mike’s, Golden Gate Bridge photo shoot, helping a lost dog when we visited the nature reserve where Eden works, Melissa staying overnight at Darlene and Mike’s, Ashlynn having a fun test shoot; California/San Diego - staying with Dan and Nancy, fantastic to reconnect with old friends at party at Kathy and Phil’s, Ashlynn’s teenage experience, hashing, aquarium, La Jolla Cove, Balboa Park, Extraordinary Desserts, Jimmy and Ashlynn’s long run; Ireland - Jimmy and Ashlynn diving, Fungie the Dingle dolphin, Ashlynn’s first wreck dive, “Single Pringles in Dingle ready to mingle,” hiking in Killarney National Park, high tea, massages and pools at spa, Jimmy’s coat stolen but recovered, great Irish music, Ashlynn went to Leprechaun Museum and gym on her own, Veronica loved first Outdoor Ultimate Frisbee Tournament at club level and going out with Aye-Aye, great walking tour of Dublin, Book of Kells at Trinity College for Melissa’s birthday; Netherlands - helped organize an incredibly successful Dutch Nash Hash Weekend on sailing ships visiting three cities in three days: Lelystad, Volendam and Amsterdam; loved seeing Jimmy dressed as a pirate as he led the other “ballbreakers” to jump overboard to swim to the start of their trail, dressing up as four mermaids for the big party
• Jimmy/Melissa Travel: Germany - visited Jim and Nina in Bonn, awesome cycle ride along the Ahr and Rhine rivers, great hike up to a beer garden, WhatsApp call with Veronica while she was on a Mozambique beach timelapsing stars; England - hiking 205 miles across Northern England on Coast-2-Coast route with Carlin and Kent, lots of sheep, no injuries or blisters, we never got lost nor did our luggage, fantastic waterfalls and scenery, incredible feeling of accomplishment 
• Melissa/Ashlynn Travel: London - The Woman in Black play, Sky Garden with Camilla and Beatrix, exploring Shoreditch, Vegan Festival, 30% discount at Brandy Melville, great catching up with Camilla and Tristram over wonderful vegan meals
• Jimmy Travel: Berlin - going to Swiss Embassy for panel discussion, Modern Art Museum, typewriter room at hotel; Singapore - solar panel factory, Marina Bay Sands Hotel bar on rooftop, sweating during morning runs, jungle run with professor, out until 3 a.m. at graduation of Executive Renewable Energy Management Course (REM)
• Veronica Travel: London - The Lion King, Sky Garden, spending time with Jason and Adelina; Mozambique - seeing and photographing the Milky Way, lots of diving including with a whale shark and hearing baby and mama humpback whales, illuminated jellyfish at surface while snorkeling, painting school classroom; Slapton - getting to spend really good time with future housemates on Environmental Science field trip, spending time on beach, star photography, beach bonfire; South Africa - safari with seeing four of the “Big Five” (elephant, lion, cheetah and water buffalo, but no rhino), photographer’s dream, amazing safari lodge, passion fruit 
• Ashlynn Travel: Belgium - first music festival at Pukkelpop, camping with friends, dancing until 5 a.m. everyday, the Boiler Room, Dusky; Dorset, England - freedom while staying in an amazing house during four-night geography trip, meeting new people beyond friend group, getting to know Rebecca, hike, all-nighter; London - quality time and shopping with Sophie, seeing The Bodyguard; Tanzania - “I’d give it a 6,” “Same same, but different,” meeting some of the most amazing people, realizing that there are people like her on this planet, being inspired by Joelle, amazing diving including a drift dive, getting Advanced and Rescue Diver, EFR Interactive Course, surviving the long drop, no scorpions, no WiFi or electricity, stargazing, hammock, visiting New Bar, Rhama, teaching at local school, sleeping on the beach with Patrick, happy to have a mattress, staying in a hostel alone for the first time, riding on a motorbike to the airport, NUDIBRANCH! 
• Norwich: Melissa and Carlin helped Veronica move into her new house, exploring Norfolk Broads with Carlin; Andrew staying with Ashlynn in Veronica’s dorm room, showing Sally around Norwich; weekend with entire family, Biddy’s Tea Room, BBQ jackfruit at Bia Kitchen, bar hopping but Skittles drink was gross, Ashlynn enjoyed seeing Veronica drunk for the first time
• Visitors: more summer visitors than any other year; Cisa and Hrvoje visiting from Croatia with their seven-year-old son Legolas, going boating with them in Giethoorn and Leiden; Buddy hanging out with us for a few days; Allison, daughter of my oldest friend Holly, spent two nights with us; Jim popping in from Germany; Melissa and Pieter coming up from Frankfurt for another hash weekend; Bill and his nephew Hagen spent three nights with us; two classmates visited Veronica, she had an awesome birthday celebration with Sam in Amsterdam, she and Freya enjoyed clubbing in Amsterdam; Ashlynn was sick when fellow IMG model Gabi came to visit, but they still managed to meet up with two other models to go pedal boating in Utrecht   
• Proud Parents: girls started The Vegan Princesses Instagram account together; Veronica - got a First, the highest grading classification, for her first year at UEA; Ashlynn - achieving fantastic GCSE results, tying with Veronica
• Jimmy: ten minutes after Melissa fell we knew that she wouldn’t be leaving us; successfully organized REM Reunion with tour of largest Heineken factory, boat trip to wind farm and walking tour of Rotterdam
• Melissa: surviving first time as Religious Advisor at a big hash weekend, ending in the Olympic Stadium at her first Amsterdam 8K
• Veronica: falling in love for the first time, Ultimate Frisbee tournaments and making it to Nationals, dressing up as Darth Vader at one tournament, taking Ashlynn to House Crawl and on hydrology field trip, LCR, moving in with some of her best friends, running for and winning UEA Environmental Officer, Great British Bake Off, Aye-Aye naked calendar photo shoot, interesting oceanography lectures, Mark and David visiting UEA, beautiful revision notes, visiting Bea in Oxford, cycling with David to Amsterdam
• Ashlynn: going vegan, two hours after Melissa fell she realized that possession probably wasn’t real, Mura Masa and Flume concerts, house parties, first editorial, swimming, Project Africa fundraising events, photographing Bye Bye Blue, New Year’s Eve Penthouse Party, Year 11 Prom, burning GCSE notes

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Reflections on our 11th Year - Part 1...

Our 11th Anniversary of living in the Netherlands was actually on November 22, but our celebration was delayed until December 20 so Veronica could join us. First, we stopped at the Royal Christmas Fair in the city center and then, as is our tradition, we had dinner at La Lanterna in Scheveningen, the same restaurant where we ate on our first night 11 years ago. Also continuing our tradition, we made a list of our highs and lows over the last year. As usual, here are our lows first:

• Topping the list by far was Melissa breaking her head. Jimmy was absolutely terrified upon finding her on the bathroom floor. Ashlynn thought she was possessed. 
• Speaking of broken heads, also at the top of the list was the US Presidential Election
• Feeling bad for Grandpa after he broke his leg
• No chance for a vacation with Sally, John, David and Andrew
• Worrying about worldwide environmental disasters, including continual fall as winter never arrived in Holland or the UK
• Jimmy: losing wallet (luckily recovered, but after we’d already cancelled all his cards), work still frustrating, sad that Executive Renewable Energy Management Course is over, missed two opportunities to visit Veronica, no trick or treaters on Halloween, hash politics, driving five hours roundtrip to Belgium to retrieve Ashlynn’s missing purse
• Melissa: freaking out the night before Ashlynn left for Tanzania after finding out that Dar es Salaam is one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Johanna moving, getting a spinal tap hurt like hell, it’s not fun to wake up covered in blood after IV disconnected, hash drama
• Veronica: getting to South Africa and realizing she had no money, computer troubles, Lightroom annoyances, Jason graduating and moving away, losing connection with friends from Holland, light pollution in the Netherlands, long days in the library for exam revision, crappy professors, drama getting visa at Mozambique Embassy in London
• Ashlynn: losing purse at a rest stop in Belgium during a school trip to England, crappy teachers, Sweet 16th was spent studying for GCSE exams, camera stolen in Tanzania, very sick at end of stay in Tanzania including vomiting at airport

Arriving Back in Holland...

The ferry journey from Hull was a lot longer than our usual journey from Harwich, so we ate both dinner and breakfast on board. We also went to a show featuring singing and dancing, which was surprisingly entertaining.

We were also entertained by the variety of activity at Europort in Rotterdam that we don’t usually see when traveling on the Stenaline.

These might look like toys, but were real big rigs and John Deere tractors. Perhaps a weird choice for the final photo from our big adventure, but a reminder that we were entering back into reality.

Haircuts in Scarborough...

We arrived in Scarborough with about two hours to spare, so we dropped off our luggage at a hotel across from the train station that offered luggage storage and went shopping for lunch and other snacks for our journey. Then Jimmy decided he wanted to get a haircut. All we could find were lots of hair salons, but no barbers; he picked one and we set a time to meet him.

Ironically, we found a bunch of barbers just another block or so down the street, so Kent decided to visit a Turkish barber for his cut and shave, which he said was one of the best he’d ever had.

It dawned on me that I could also use a trim since Jimmy had cut my hair the day before we left for England and my hair was rather ragged. We came across a barber shop owned by a woman, so I went in. I was told that they don’t do women’s cuts, but when I said that I just needed a trim with no styling, I was offered a seat. The barber said I was her first female client, that is if she didn’t count the lesbians that come in for men’s cuts. It cracked me up that I went to a barber while Jimmy went to a hairstylist. Luckily both cuts were cheap and had good results.

Last Day in England...

From the outside, our inn did look rather adorable...

...but we weren’t impressed by their attitude or breakfast.

We took one last walk around the village in the search of pins for our backpacks, which we were happy to find.

Our journey back to Holland was a bit complicated. We took a taxi from Robin Hood’s Bay to Scarborough to catch a train to Hull, and then another taxi to the port to catch a ferry across the North Sea, where we caught a bus to Rotterdam Centraal for our normal train journey back to our village.

Hitting the Beach...

It was strange waking up and realizing that our hiking days were behind us. After the most disappointing breakfast of our trip, Jimmy and I went for a long walk on the beach.

I enjoyed finding reflections in the puddles...

...and making shadows on the beach.

The cliffs were beautiful and colorful.

We also enjoyed seeing shells, presumably filled with sea creatures...

...a horse...

...and funny trails presumably left from sea creatures.

Our relaxing walk quickly turned into a beach clean-up after Jimmy came across this bag and plenty of trash to fill it.