One of my fondest travel memories to date is going to visit the mountain gorillas. I was fortunate enough to see them in both Uganda and Rwanda. While I understand the controversies surrounding animal tourism, and the risks of habituating these animals (for example, disease), I strongly believe that there are important benefits. In particular, the ability to monitor their health, their populations, their family dynamics, and other characteristics makes habituation incredibly important. 

We spent two days in Battambang, heading there between our time in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.

Early one morning, our tuk-tuk driver/guide took us on a great tour of the communities just outside Battambang.  We buzzed around in the tuk-tuk all morning, visiting a wide variety of places with his informative, humorous, and candid commentary. I think the tour route is pretty standard, but that didn't make it any less fascinating.  

I don't really think Battambang gets as many visitors as many other places in Cambodia; none of the visits felt stages or commercialized.  I feel like we saw much more of the "real" side of Cambodia in Battambang, beyond the hustle and bustle of Siem Reap with visitors crawling everywhere, and the pollution and city feel of Phnom Penh.  As the pictures show below, we saw the making of so many things! Battambang Province, I believe, is the leading rice-producer in the entire country. 

We made a point to visit Wat Wamrong Knong, which has a very well done carving sequence, called the Well of Shadows, which depicts the horrors of the Khmer Rouge. I've included a picture of the dedication below, but I think the wall itself is best seen in person, rather than online.

The first time we visited Namibia, we spent a few days in the Caprivi Strip and in the Caprivi Game Park, also known as the Okavango strip as it's part of the bigger Okavango ecosystem.  To say it's beautiful doesn't really capture the essence of the area. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a visit, particularly in coordination with Chobe National Park or other parts of the Okavango Delta in Botswana.

Originally, Germans believed that the Zambezi would lead them to the Indian Ocean, so they decided to claim land surrounding the Zambezi (it's named after Count van Caprivi). Unfortunately, the Zambezi isn't particularly navigable (uh, Vic Falls?), so that didn't work out so well.

We went to Egypt in September of 2012.   Yes, we were in the country when they burned the flag at the American Embassy, and we were in Cairo directly 3 days after. 

Everything was fine. Despite the ridiculous American news, the rest of the city was unaffected. The coverage in the States desperately tried to make it seem as if the sky was falling.  "There are rioters everywhere!"  Uh, false.  If Cairo was the Pacific Ocean, there were rioters in Kauai.  I.e. about two blocks of an absolutely enormous city.  Sure, I wouldn't go to that one block, or probably the surrounding radius, but to say all of Cairo--much less all of Egypt--was in chaos was ridiculous. 

Times were tough for an economy that relies heavily on tourists, which was easy to see when we were the only--yes only--group at the pyramids one morning.  One other bus showed up a few minutes later, and a few more trickled in as we were leaving.  The place was empty. I commend tour companies, like Abercrombie and Kent (who we used), who continued (and still continue) to run tours. I really, strongly, feel that safety was not an issue when we were there. Yes, we did have an armed guard with us in the bus, and yes, there were gunmen on nearly every boat we saw on the Nile (including our own).  But if there was ever a trip that convinced me not to believe American news coverage, this was it. Perhaps our experience would have been different as independent travelers?

Locals were nothing but courteous, kind, and helpful. And we were actually harassed FAR less in Cairo than we were in other parts of the country.  While people in Khan el-Khalili (one of the biggest souks) surely tried to sell us things, it was not the in-your-face type approach found at Luxor, Karnak, Abu Simbel, and other places.  In those places, they would latch on and continue yelling through the bus windows, to the point where you were both uncomfortable and exhausted.  In Cairo, they'd just ask if you were interested in something if you picked it up. Fair enough. They also would ask you where you were from and thank you for visiting Egypt.

Unfortunately, trash collectors were also on strike when we were there...I'm sure the city isn't sparkling clean when they aren't on strike, but it was the dirtiest city that we've been in, ever.  And when I think of bad traffic yesterday in Washington DC...nothing compares to Cairo. That traffic is truly horrible. 

But, Cairo is truly a beautiful city, with much intrigue and incredible history. It's called the city of a thousand minarets for a reason! If you like religious studies or archaeology, it's obviously a wonderful destination.  Here are my favorite sights from Cairo for this week's Flashback Photos.

Have you been to Cairo or Egypt more recently? What was your experience?

In addition to trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest (Uganda) and Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda) to see the infamous mountain gorillas, we also went chimpanzee tracking in Uganda's Kibale National Park.
 
Unless you get bored of animals really easily (and if that's you, I question why you would be on a trip like this in the first place), the chimpanzees are totally worth a stop. Don't be afraid that they aren't as interesting as the gorillas, or that the two experiences will be too similar: they aren't. First, chimp tracking is much easier (a stroll in the forest, really) than hiking to see the gorillas. And it usually takes less time--we hiked easily 2.5 hours or more to see one of the gorilla groups, and the chimps were a leisurely 45 minutes from drop-off. Second, chimps and gorillas are completely different characters, with different social networks, behaviors, mannerisms, etc. And they are a blast to watch.

For example, did you know that chimps nest each night? They are nesters!  Each night they create a nest in the trees, and in the morning they "de-nest", and spend a lot of their day on the ground, only to return to the treetops to build a new nest for the next night.  They also utilize tools, like sticks for poking out those delicious termites from their holes. 

We went to Tunisia in 2009, before the Arab Spring and all the things that have happened since. I don't want to dwell on the Arab Spring (there are plenty of sites out there for that), but I think I'd be remiss in talking about Tunisia without saying something. 

As a tourist, I couldn't really "see" or "sense" the bubbles about to explode.  Maybe I was just young and naive, or maybe it wasn't apparent if you didn't spend more time there. I don't know. Yes, there were little things that just seemed off at the time, like how our guide said he had to check in at least 2 times per day with the authorities, since we were all Americans, to tell them our location, destination, and to make sure everything was o.k.  We'll never know if this was really true--or not--or if they were checking to make sure we weren't press or something else.  And of course if you had read just a little deeper, you were well aware of ongoing turmoil, including concern from NGOs on human rights records, news censorship, and the general corruption of the ruling elite.  But the Tunisians also were proud of their successes and pretty moderate society. If you've gone to Tunisia both before and after the revolution as a visitor, please chime in, I'd really be curious to see how your impressions have changed.

 I'm definitely glad we went--it was a fascinating place and the first time I had visited a Muslim country.  Call me strange, but I actually enjoy waking up to the call to prayer most mornings. Much better than beeeep beeeep beeeep. Their archaeological sites are absolutely incredible (Dougga and El Djem are deserving of their own posts), as is the country's long and varied history. That said, we spent two weeks there which I think was a wee bit too long. Particularly because we were on a tour, and couldn't linger where we wanted and move on (city-wise) from what was just meh. For example, I'd have loved to spend more time in Sidi Bou Said, but I was ready to get out of Sousse after a morning walk.

However, Tozeur, Tunisia was one of my favorite places.  When I imagined an "oasis", I imagined a place like Tozeur, where all of a sudden, palm trees and life appear out of nothing.  Bonus, the locals even called me Anna Kournikova, since I was blond. That was enough to seal my affinity for the place.

OMGeeezieee...this makes me feel so old!  I went to Chamonix when I was in college, over spring break my freshman year.  Chamonix was my first trip to France, and totally amazing spring skiing. I snowboarded down L'Aiguille du Midi (the Vallee Blanche) which I still think is pretty freaking awesome. It was the only time, in my nearly 2 decades of snowboarding/skiing, that I wondered if I had gotten in over my head. I mean, we passed someone who had fallen into a crevasse, and was at least 20 feet down (it really does happen, they aren't kidding when they warn you to watch where you turn). But I made it down, in one piece, and absolutely thrilled by the experience. As I'm sure you can glean by my excessive use of adjectives.

I'm going to start doing flashback photo Friday posts--past trips, before I started TravelingSaurus.  I love going back through old photos and reminiscing! First up? The Skeleton Coast.

The first time I visited Namibia, I only went to the Caprivi Strip.  Definitely brilliant--tons of wildlife with hippos everywhere!  But there was so much of the country left to visit. So we returned, as a graduation present for my piled-higher-deeper degree in 2011.  There were so many highlights of this trip, from tracking rhinos in Damaraland to seeing the dunes at Soussesvlei.
 
But the Skeleton Coast was just incredible.  Miles and miles of untouched coastline. Some native populations in Namibia called the Skeleton Coast "The Land God Made in Anger"--hundreds of kilometers of arid, unforgiving terrain. 

I've asked Dear Husband (DH) to write a review about his (our? this remains unclear) underwater camera that we used for the first time when we went to Belize for our honeymoon. He gladly obliged, after some nagging. We are "normal" picture takers--we like good photos, but we aren't really into photography. We stumble along through trial, error, and some professional tips from friends and family. Yes, we know what aperture and shutter speed mean and do, can shoot on manual, and I've even started doing some basic editing (that took years), but that's about the extent of our photographic wisdom. So if you are a photo-bug...you can probably stop reading, this post isn't for you! But if you are a traveler looking into underwater cameras for fun shooting, read on.

My wife has asked me to write a review of the Fujifilm FinePix XP200 16MP Digital Camera, which was a combined present for my birthday/Christmas. Not sure why she thinks it's "ours", it's definitely mine. I'm even good at sharing unlike someone else I know...

I have a December birthday and it seems people get worried that we are cheated out of gifts since it's also Christmas-time, so I can get creative with my gift requests. My father-in-law, who actually is a really good photographer, suggested we look into this specific camera because of its affordability, good reputation, and general purpose use for underwater picture taking. So thanks to my parents, I got a sweet camera last December and managed to take some very cool pictures and videos of our snorkeling adventures in Belize.

When I requested the camera in December 2013, the cost was around $200 which was by far the lowest priced underwater camera with good Amazon reviews. However, I now see that the camera lists for over $350, which I think is a bit pricey for this type of camera.

The Basic Specs:
-5x optical zoom,
-full 1080p HD video at 60fps,
-great presets for underwater shooting,
-3 inch display on the back, and
-wifi to download picture to smartphone or tablet.