We went on safari several times in Africa.  A budding wildlife photographer, Danny kept trying to get a photo that would describe why a zebra has stripes.  Everytime we saw them clumped together in a group he would try from various angles, repositioning the car, leaning around me, etc.. to get the perfect picture.  Needless to say we have hundreds of zebra photos!

After spending a few nights out at the Colca Canyon near Arequipa, Peru we were headed back into town on our way to meet a friend in Cusco.  Catching at 6am bus out of the village, we weren’t surprised when the bus stopped along the way to pick up other people, animals and their baggage.  This little guy made it on the bus, but we saw a llama and a goat loaded into the baggage hold for a short ride up the hill. 

Harar is an ancient walled city, some say as old as Ethiopia itself. The most important trading center on the horn of Africa until the mid-nineteenth century, Harar is a distinctly Muslim city in a country known for its Christianity, which in and of itself makes it worth the trip. Wandering the streets felt a little like wandering through North Africa not Ethiopia. Architecturally similar to traditional swahili homes like we saw in Lamu, the homes are brightly painted with a specific blue indicating the owner has gone to the hajj. Surrounded by a 5m wall, the city feels crossed between old and new (spitting camels and all), lacking the traditional charm of Lamu, but …

So after being charged twice as Danny mentioned yesterday, which really was terrifying, we slid down the mountain a bit more and found ourselves in a huge clearing with about a dozen mountain gorillas.
It was an amazing experience being surrounded by these huge creatures, but they couldn’t have been more passive.

We spent an hour with them, and while it was probably the most expensive hour of our whole lives, it was incredible.
Our gorilla group- nkongo- had 18 members, including one 4 month old infant and a set of one year old twins.

While we only saw one silverback, there were two in the group as well as several  males. After being charged, I was surprised the gorillas allowed us to …